Ricardo Odriozola - Den Velsignede (2008)
(b. 1965)
1st performance: 10. February 2010, Sardinen USF, Bergen Ricardo Odriozola, violin
Stein-Erik Olsen, guitar
RICARDO ODRIOZOLA was born in Bilbao in 1965. He started studying the violin at the age of 9 and graduated from the Bilbao conservatoire in 1982. He then spent a year as exchange student in Arlington (near Boston) finishing his high school and serving as concertmaster of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony orchestra. In 1987 he obtained a bachelor degree in performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (NY). That same year he moved to Bergen (Norway) and began teaching at the Bergen Music Conservatoire (now Grieg Academy), where he is now associate professor of violin and chamber music.
Ricardo Odriozola began writing music at the age of 10. The earliest composition he recognizes (a piano sextet) dates from 1984. Since then he has written more than 40 works (chamber music, solo, songs and orchestral music) and arranged a great deal of music by other composers. Several of his works appear on CD. In January 2015 he released his first CD dedicated exclusively to his music: “Views from my Horse” (www.amethyst-records.com).
Although he has never taken lessons in composition, Ricardo Odriozola has received guidance and inspiration from many prominent composers, particularly from Western Norway, and has built his craft by reading thousands of scores and listening to concerts and recordings. Ricardo Odriozola’s music is, however, primarily informed by his wide experience as a performer. He always strives to produce scores that are performer-friendly and music that can communicate directly with the listener without the aid of intellectual filters.
The composer writes:
'Den Velsignede ("the blessed one") was written between 2007 and 2008. Having written a piano trio in 2004 titled "Leaving Home", Den Velsignede represents its "coming home" counterpart after years of uncertain "wandering in the wilderness". The piece was inspired by and dedicated to the person who provided a sense of stability and belonging that had been practically unknown to me until then. The uncannily symmetrical melody that opens the piece (the first eight notes in the violin) spells the first name of the dedicatee.
The piece is written in fantasy style, with a number of recurring ideas and motifs. The music is melodically and harmonically very rich and, for the most part, written with the intent of creating a sense of rhythmic fluidity. It is mostly placid with occasionally more abrasive and/or playful episodes, such as the argument that seems to arise in measures 89-100, followed by a few placatory moments before breaking into a somewhat intoxicating waltz. There are also moments of contemplation such as the "garden section" (mm. 140-160), followed by a dance that gains in abandon as it loses inhibition. The following "più tranquillo" section (mm. 229-251) is, in a sense the heart of a piece that centres largely on the positive emotional side of human experience. This is followed by eighteen measures of serene, Zen-like detachment that turns into an equally detached merry-go-round-like section. An internal dance as it were. The final, slow nine measures reinstate the sense of devotion and gratitude that is at the heart of the composition.'
Ricardo Odriozola - Drammen, 27. December 2020