Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection

Javier Garavaglia, T.A.T. (A Man's life), 1998
(Argentina)



Recording time: 23 min 28 s.
Instruments: For viola, bass clarinet and electronics
Remarks: Javier Garavaglia, viola; Mathew Davies, bass clarinet.

Other resources available:
- About Javier Garavaglia
- Compositions by Javier Garavaglia

About this composition:

The title of the work represents the first letters of all three names of my viola teacher (Tomás Alejandro Tichauer), who died in December 1994 at the age of 50 because of a heart attack; he was not only my viola professor, but also one of my best friends.The life meant in the title is his and the piece is thought as a tribute to him.

Because the viola was almost a part of him, I chose the note "C" (basic tone of the viola) to organize the whole pitch-system that rules the work. This was thought as there were for this pitch two different overtones series: one positive (the real overtones), representing the presence of life and one negative or abstract (the inversion of the overtone series), which we normally do not percieve, representing the absence of life (his not being there any more).

Nummerical connotations in relationship with his name and his birthday serve to organize algorithmically the rhythms and also the pitches.

Regarding the form of the piece, there are 5 parts without any cut, each one representing different moments in the life of every human being :

1- "From nothing to life", that is, the conception of a life (both instruments + tape).

2- "Birth" takes place at minute 5:00:000 and from minute 5:42:000, "Begin of a life", which runs up to minute 9:00:000. (solo tape).

3- "Matureness" up to minute 14:00:000 (both instruments + tape)

4- "Age of loosing " (solo tape)

5- "Death and beyond" from minute 17:40:000 up to the end. (both instruments + tape)

Although it may seem so, there are not religious connotations in the piece. I did only want to express with music, that such moments surely exist in everyone's life.

Because it is a very personal work about a friend of mine, I wanted to play the viola myself in the world- premiere (8th Florida Electroacustic Music Festival 1999 - UFL - Gainesville - USA), using the bow which was his, and which was given to me one year after his death as a part of his legacy.

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