oboe, suona, sanxian, santur, 2 tars, 2 vibraphones, 2 erhus, viola and double bass

Arr. Mark Armanini, 2020 [original work]

Pulau Dewata, whose title means “Island of the Gods” in Indonesian, is a tribute piece to the wonderful Balinese people. The whole piece is merely a melody whose rhythmic language is sometimes drawn from the Balinese rhythmic line. A tribute with memories of this island. The ending of the piece is in fact an exact quotation of the “panjit prana,” the offering dance of the Legong. I wanted a simple piece: monochrome, a short piece above all full of joy, alternating single melodies—“intervalized”—and complementary melodies in the Balinese style. It is a child’s music… — Claude Vivier

Upon first looking at the score by Vivier, I was immediately challenged to adapt it for the traditional instruments in the VICO ensemble. After an initial work-through, I started to see the original lines as a black and white line drawing, and my focus was to add the colour. Fortunately, the lines showed a linear logic that quickly fell into place. The VICO roster provides a balance of Asian and western European instruments, which helped to solve the puzzle of the chromatic aspects of the material and the role of the traditional instruments, exposing their wealth of sound-based techniques that define and drive the sound world of VICO. The rhythmic aspect of the work provides an extreme challenge to the traditional players, a challenge that they have met head on and with a great ensemble effort, resulting in a wonderous and vibrant landscape of sound. — Mark Armanini

Claude Vivier, Mark Armanini [x-21]