Cristiano Melli

Genesis 1.3 - 8

GENESIS 1.3-8 was originally conceived as a work for string quartet in 2003. During the composition, however, I gradually left the strings to a more 'keyboard' formation. The sensation of lights and colours which came from the development of the work seemed perfect, to me, in a formation including instruments as the harp, the celesta, the piano and the vibraphone. It's from these general outlines that the work got its final shape. The structure of the work, which resembles the traditional four movements of western concert music, is built upon a twelve tone line, presented at the very beginning (and developed in the first part); from it, I derived 12 chords. These chords were permuted, and they appear in these resulting sequences, until the second half of the last part of the work - from this point, until the end of the piece, the chords were used with freedom, which allowed them to form, from their interaction, new possibilities, new sounds, new colors - after the genesis, the Creation started to live independent from the Creator... The work is dedicated to the great pianist Carlos Yansen, a good friend and a musician of rare sensibility; and I was honored by Almeida Prado, the most important composer in Brazil, who wrote, when saw the score: 'It's a scandal of Lights and Waters!'.