Sheet Music available here:
Gorgonzola Fantasy
By Aleksey Igudesman
For 2 Solo Violins and Strings
This piece is the original and more elaborate version of my “Gorizia Fantasy”.
The first theme is the Italian traditional song “o gorizia tu sei maledetta“ or “O Gorizia You are Cursed”, an antimilitarist war song written during the First World War. Around it I weaved virtuoso and celebratory passages derived from thematic material, using the two violins at times as battling enemies, at other times as partners in joy.
The central, slow part quotes the Slovenian traditional song “Zrejlo je žito” or “The Grain is Ripe”, followed by a funk inspired battle of the violins, which concludes in an aleatoric section, where both violins are given designated scales to use freely on top of a grooving accompaniment. Scratches, both in front as well as behind the bridge give rhythmical impulses, as well as violin “chops” often used in jazz and bluegrass fiddle music.
The main message of this mini double concerto, in the form of a Fantasy, is unity, inclusiveness, compassion and joy, all things that todays world is in desperate need of.
Aleksey Igudesman - Solo Violin
Diana-Maria Turcu - Solo Violin
Youth Classics Chamber Orchestra