AVNER FINBERG

A Concerto for One

For violin and live electronics

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic separated musicians from audiences, colleagues and venues. Without an orchestra, what is a concerto? In a nod to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, four movements approach the combination of solo violin and electronic sounds in novel ways. From this experiment emerges a new music genre that is not quite a concerto but something else, full of expression and virtuosity.

The Movements:

Sirens (Spring) – The violin engages sine waves in a duet. The resulting siren harmonies eerily slide between chords. 8 minutes

Echo Chamber (Summer) – The title refers to both literal echoes and also the phenomenon of only encountering your own views on social media. The violin plays a cannon with its own delay. More voices are added, eventually reaching a colossal eight-voice cannon. 11 minutes

The Ocean Between Us (Fall) – The violin reflectively plays a melody on the separation from loved ones. Multiple violin samples are mixed with convolution reverb, consequently creating an ocean with waves of sound. 9 minutes

In Perpetuum (Winter) – An anxious theme begins a journey through a myriad of pre-recorded violins ensembles that are sped up, slowed down, reversed, and played through various effects. The structure of the piece could be described as a constantly developing fugue, or a set of variations on a fugue. 15 minutes