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Felipe Lara: Meditation and Calligraphy (2014) for bass flute

from Density 2036: parts i & ii (2013​-​2014) by Claire Chase

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Felipe Lara: Meditation and Calligraphy (for G. Mend-Ooyo) (2014) – for amplified bass flute



From April to June, I was fortunate to take part in a residency at Civitella Ranieri, a 15th-century castle turned foundation and residency in Umbria, Italy. One former fellow, G. Mend-Ooyo, a Mongolian poet and calligrapher particularly called my attention. He was born and raised by a nomadic herding family, in the Mongolian steppe; his work has been translated in forty languages.

I asked him to show me some of his work and he invited me for visit his studio in order to see the work he had produced during the residency at Civitella. Mend-Ooyo’s calligraphy particularly impressed me. The bold gestures, elemental lyricism, and minute details were astounding to me. The following afternoon Mend-Ooyo presented me with two wonderful calligraphies, both in black, red, pencil, over a yellow and gold paper; one with the Mongolian symbol for music, the other with fire and water symbols. I asked Mend-Ooyo: “How do you create such incredible calligraphies?” He replied, “Meditation, meditation, meditation for a very long time…then calligraphy with one quick gesture.” I found the approach extremely poetic.

The following week Claire Chase arrived at the castle to work with me on Parábolas na Caverna and play a solo concert. I decided to present Mend-Ooyo with a small piece, as a gesture of my gratitude. I decided that I would “meditate” or imagine the general character of a solo bass flute work for an entire evening, then wake up and write it in less than 30 minutes.

The work uses the letters of G. Mend-Ooyo’s name as a starting point for the pitch material: G (sol), Me (E flat, from solfege), D (re), Do (C) The vowel sounds from his name are also used to modulate the flute when singing and playing simultaneously is required.

— Felipe Lara

Felipe Lara

Brazilian composer Felipe Lara’s music has been labeled "voluptuous and elemental lyricism" and "brilliant" by The New York Times, which also described him "a gifted Brazilian-American modernist." The Washington Post described his music as possessing a "distinctive style," and "managing an internal architectural logic that shapes a curve from beginning to end."

His works have been performed by the Arditti, Asasello, Brentano, JACK, and Mivos Quartets, Ensemble Recherche, International Contemporary Ensemble, KNM Berlin, Netherlands Philharmonic (Peter Eötvös), Steven Schick, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Current projects include commissions by the Ensemble InterContemporain and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Lara is currently a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellow at Harvard University.

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from Density 2036: parts i & ii (2013​-​2014), released December 18, 2020

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Claire Chase Brooklyn, New York

www.density2036.org

Claire Chase is a flutist, interdisciplinary artist, educator and advocate for new and experimental music. She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012, and in 2017 was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Chase is Professor of the Practice of Music at Harvard University. ... more

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