Hommage à Mozart

three dialogues

op. 56, 2014

For viola and piano
Duration: 20 min.

Commissioned by Nils Mönkemeyer and William Youn
World premiere: 4 November 2014, Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck/Austria. Viola: Nils Mönkemeyer, piano: William Youn

 

Composer’s notes

Composing an homage in honour of a person is like looking for an answer to several questions, especially the importance of this person for me and what it provokes in me. I find it very appealing to be inspired by people or topics from the past and combine this inspiration with my own musical associations in order to find a new sound. This process seems to me like a wind that merges the times. It is a musical challenge to build an emotional bridge between the past and the present in a tonal way.

I sense Mozart and his music as an energy that leads me. The question if the composition reflects any of Mozart’s work remains unanswered, since no theme, melody or certain rhythm was deliberately included for musical citation. It is like playing hide-and-seek in the forest, a feeling, a certain aura – the piece reflects what Mozart provoked musically in me at this point in time.

three dialogues arises from three atmospheres that are audible as dialogues between the instruments. Although there is no dramatic development between or within the movements, they do form in their progression and as a whole a connected conversation that the audience can follow.

Nils Mönkemeyer, William Youn © Norbert Banik

 

Press reviews

“(…) die Uraufführung der Mozart-Hommage von Konstantia Gourzi: Drei licht ausschwingende, wohl auch von den beiden Interpreten bzw. Auftraggebern beeinflusste, von neueren Komponierusancen unbeeinflusste Stimmungsbilder.”

Tiroler Tageszeitung, 6 November 2014

“Die drei einheitlich in langsamem Tempo gehaltenen Dialoge zwischen Viola und Klavier haben meditativen Charakter und erreichen beachtliche Intensität.”

Kronen Zeitung Innsbruck, 6 November 2014

“(…) in einem meditativen, herbstlichen, betörend schönen Stück der griechischen Komponistin Konstantia Gourzi. Wie dieser Ohrwurm sich wiederum mit Sciarrino berührt, das berückt. Die Kombination machts. Ganz große Kammermusik von Mönkemeyer und Youn.”

Albrecht Selge, hundert11.net, 2 November 2017

 

Audio sample

 

Score