Emmanuel Charalabopoulos (KCL) - 2014-15 Students
emmanuel.charalabopoulos@kcl.ac.uk

Canto, trio for horn, violin & piano

In this piece, I have tried to experiment with allowing a much greater degree of freedom in the compositional process. There is no consciously imposed harmonic system and choice of pitches is left up to instinctive reaction/improvisation. Thematic connections are cautiously encouraged, though more in the nature of self-reference rather than motivic development. Instead, the principal challenge and focus of the work is to create a sense of balance and narrative consistency through successions of seemingly disparate elements.The Cloths of Heaven, a cappella choir: Setting the words of W.B. Yeats, I have sought to physically evoke the described fabrics, the “cloths of Heaven” through a silky choral texture in which the voices take turns in presenting the poem syllable by syllable. In terms of the harmony, the piece explores the use of a twelve-tone row, which is adhered to strictly throughout the first part of the piece, though only for the effect of breaking it at a textual turning point.