Program Notes
Note 1
A fundamental lyricism has been a defining characteristic of Chester Biscardi’s (b. 1948) music throughout his career, and Resisting Stillness (1996) is no exception. This is music whose rhythmic sense is extremely fluid and leisurely, which projects meaning above all through the delicate interplay of timbre and pitch. Like much of Biscardi’s work, there is an impressionistic sensitivity to the expressive power of pure sound wedded to bel canto line – the two guitars in fact become like a single dreamy meta-instrument, dropping handfuls of glistening harmonics which dapple the music’s surface like light on water. Musical images evoke memory, time, and the cyclical nature of existence. The title suggests a way of listening to the work and reflects Biscardi’s creative struggle at the time of its writing – a personal “pulling up from silence”. This work was commissioned by the Cygnus Ensemble and the International Guitar Festival of Morelia (Mihoacan, Mexico) for William Anderson and Oren Fader (Anderson/Fader Duo).
Note 2
Since the early 1970’s, I have often chosen literary and visual images, as well as texts, according to their power to generate musical images concerning memory, time, and the cyclical nature of existence, themes which are recurrent in my music. Although no particular musical metaphor dictated the writing of Resisting Stillness, for two guitars (1996), the title does suggest a way of listening to the work and reflects my creative struggle at the time – a personal “pulling up from silence”, as well as my interest in the power of pure sound wedded to lyrical line.
