Chilean composer Aníbal Vidal on writing music

The Brompton Quartet, Aníbal Vidal & Ignacio LusardiMonteverde at recording session for Cuerdas y Rugidos

Chilean composer Aníbal Vidal launched his album, Cuerdas y Rugidos (Strings and Roars), on the Sello Modular label final month. Aníbal is at present on the Britten Sinfonia‘s Magnum Opus scheme, they premiered a piece by him at Milton Court docket in April and will probably be premiering one other of his works within the Autumn. 

Aníbal Vidal

The brand new disc options three of Aníbal’s chamber works, Camanchaca – String Quartet No.1 carried out by the Brompton Quartet, Unboxing a Music Field – String Quartet No.2 carried out by the Alkyona Quartet and Three Chants for assembling an Oboe for oboe and string quartet carried out by José Luis Urquieta and ensemble f(r)actura. Aníbal has been writing chamber music for the previous three years, he finds you’ve gotten a extra developed alternate with the performer, whereas with orchestral music there may be not such an in depth collaboration. So, exploring a soundscape or musical panorama is way extra thrilling with a chamber group, although he admits that the recording additionally makes financial sense.

Camanchaca, his String Quartet No.1, is predicated on an thought he has had for years. Chile is a seismic nation, most individuals have skilled not less than three earthquakes. He has a definite sound reminiscence of earthquakes, how the homes sound when shaking, and the roars beneath the bottom. He skilled the tsunami of 2010 when he was residing in a small coastal village and all of the fishermen’s boats smashed in opposition to the breakwater creating a really memorable sound that he likened to a Titan taking part in with the boats. In Camanchaca he imagines a peaceable panorama alongside the sound recollections of the earthquakes.

Additionally on the disc is Three Chants for assembling an Oboe which makes use of his personal particular notation, although he emphasises that the notation is a method to an finish. [Read more about his notation in an interview he gave with The Strad]. He talks concerning the playfulness concerned within the act of composing, with a critical emphasis to play because the composer turns into immersed in their very own world, whether or not it’s dramatic, romantic or no matter. He likes shut contact with the devices that he’s writing for and although he doesn’t play the oboe, he purchased an oboe reed to experiment with; he additionally has a clarinet and began utilizing the physique to make sounds. His first thought, when writing for oboe and string quartet, was the oboe and the strings don’t match within the colors they make. For the piece, he deconstructs the oboe (therefore the work’s title), The primary motion makes use of simply the physique of the instrument, the second motion simply the reed and solely within the third motion is the oboe absolutely assembled. Thus, he feels, he has altered the connection between the strings and the oboe. And, after all, he needed to develop his personal notation as a result of what he was writing went past conventional notation.

He doesn’t really feel that his music is distinctively Chilean. While he does take inspiration from the nation, he doesn’t use folks music and he’s influenced in a broader sense by the lifestyle in South America, what he calls the best way of dealing with actuality. He finds this very enticing, and he refers back to the cultural myths and legends that cast his id. However his music just isn’t particularly Chilean and even South American, although some affect comes by.

Different inspirations embody classical composers like Ligeti, Stravinsky and Mahler, plus a variety of latest composers together with Thomas Adès and Bernhard Lang. Actually, he educated as a jazz guitarist and has a parallel profession in movie music. [See his showreel on YouTube.] For his movie music, he makes use of samples of a giant vary of small percussion devices to increase the sound palate. He emphasises that movie music has one other finish, dramatic or industrial, and doesn’t simply rely on the music itself. He finds it a problem, there may be his inspiration however it’s filtered by the exterior necessities. While he considers his movie music and live performance music as separate, his curiosity in utilizing the sampled small percussion devices in movie music led to his curiosity in the best way the devices had been used and led him in direction of the best way he writes for devices in his live performance music.

Aníbal Vidal & Britten Sinfonia at Milton Court docket after premiere of Invocación n.1: a mi arcano el Ermitaño

Within the Autumn, Britten Sinfonia will probably be premiering the second of his items as a part of the Magnum Opus scheme. This will probably be a fifteen-minute trumpet concertino, and after we spoke, he had solely not too long ago had his first assembly with the soloist. He’s eager to study extra concerning the instrument and discover his manner round it, so he has not too long ago purchased a second-hand trumpet. His first collaboration with Britten Sinfonia, premiered in April 2024, was a septet (flute, bass clarinet, harp, string quartet), Invocación n.1: a mi arcano el Ermitaño, with the trumpet concertino being Invocación n.2. He describes the septet as an exploration of evoking the human voice by devices. This continues with the trumpet concertino the place he explores writing for the trumpet and invoking the human voice, together with responses from the orchestra.

He describes the Magnum Opus scheme as very useful and really holistic, it’s not nearly writing the music however about what occurs behind the scenes, in order that the day after we converse he was spending time on the Britten Sinfonia workplace studying concerning the administration concerned. He feels that the Magnum Opus composers are integrated into the grand scheme of Britten Sinfonia, understanding how choices are made and studying to work together with performers. Additionally, the scheme gives the prospect to jot down two works for the orchestra. 

Trying forward, he has a fee from the Carice Singers for the 2025 Spitalfields Competition which will probably be an oratorio for narrator and vocal ensemble. It’s to be a large-scale work and he’s at present working with the librettist on a textual content that explores pagan myths of creation. He’s fascinated by the best way comparable creation myths crop up in numerous cultures in order that the native folks from Chile have the same fable to the traditional Sumerian empire. The work will probably be a theatrical depiction of pagan creation for voices alone, although every singer could have a smaller instrument to play too, and every will participate within the narration.

His movie music has included two unbiased function movies, and a few TV sequence, most not too long ago Cromosoma 21, a Netflix Latin American sequence. His movie music incorporates loads of synthesisers and he admits to having fun with working with ‘gear’, what he calls the sound-designer aspect of composition. 

Thus far, his live performance music has solely included one work involving electronics, as he has tended to maintain the electronics aspect for movie music. However subsequent yr, he will probably be writing an orchestral piece which can use electronics, recorded samples triggered from a keyboard, alongside the common orchestra. It will likely be his first try at mixing the 2 in his live performance music.

When he was studying the guitar, he created his personal music and was all the time enthusiastic about writing songs, discovering he had a deep curiosity and want to precise one thing, an vitality inside him that wanted to be put out. He began writing when he was 12, and this grew to become stronger than his have to carry out. He does not ask why, it is simply what he does. For Aníbal, writing music is a approach to discover out who he’s, to admit one thing, and to make clear himself, so composition is a means of resolving one thing. He calls it an intuitive summary Sudoku working with sound parameters and with no single resolution.