Oriol Cruixent
Fa Do
Duration: 8'
Instrumentation details:
1st violoncello
2nd violoncello
3rd violoncello
4th violoncello
5th violoncello
6th violoncello
7th violoncello
8th violoncello
Fa Do
Sample pages
Video
Work introduction
The title of the work Fa Do plays with the double meaning between "Fa" and "Do", the two main pitches used in the elaboration of its melodic material, and the word "Fado" (Portuguese for "destiny"), a musical genre that dates back to the 1820s in Portugal, although its origins are probably even older.
Based upon the rhythm of “Samba da rua” (slow, elegant samba), the composition Fa Do is inspired both by the “saudade” (i.e. melancholy, a mood found in the popular music of many Mediterranean/Latin cultures like the Portuguese and its “Fado”), and by the sensual and melancholic melodies from the more recent Brazilian popular music (“Bossa Nova”).
Fa Do was written for the Belgian octet Ô-Celli with the purpose of expanding the ways of performing music using exclusively eight violoncellos. Thus, to the structural counterpoint, fugatos, harmonic and melodic textures, a rich world of strummed and percussive effects was added to achieve a fully orchestral sound with a touch of authentic Brazilian "escola de samba" atmosphere.
Fa Do was finished on February 2013 and was premiered on April 2015 by Ô-Celli in Brussels, Belgium.
What is necessary to perform this work?
8 Violoncellos (second Violoncello needs a soft guitar plectron)