Isenheimer Altar

PUBLISHED ON MAY 4, 2020 — CATEGORIES: creations

This woodwind quintet is an impression on 5 different pictoric elements from the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted by Matthias Grünewald around 1512:

It was composed in 2012, in the context of my composition studies in Vigo. At that point I was interested in the emergence of modernism and its relation to late-romantic music, and also particularly on Messiaen’s music.

The work is centered on these 2 ideas, featuring instrument switches in all 5 voices (to piccolo flute, E flat clarinet, english horn and contrabassoon respectively), and some of the techniques that Messiaen explains in his Technique De Mon Langage Musical, with a touch of funk.

The work and media in this post are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Feel free to contact me if you want any more details or you are planning to play it!



Recordings

Estefanía Fernandez, flute
Santiago Barreira, oboe
Pablo Piñeiro, clarinet
Ángela Freiría, horn
Gonzalo Lemos, bassoon

Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4
Movement 5