Fractured (Memoria II)

Score / parts

Instrumentation and duration

Decacorde

Duration: 6 minutes

Commission / dedications

Commissioned by and dedicated to Mari Mäntylä

First performance

Mari Mäntylä, decacorde, Lentua hall, Kuhmo Arts Centre, Kuhmo, Finland, January 30, 2025

Composer's Notes

Fractured (Memoria II) is a reworked, or extended version of my Etude No. 2: Memoria (Remembrance) from Etudes for guitar cycle, written for Patrik Kleemola between 2020 and 2021.

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The idea for this extended version with new musical material, also making use of decacorde's extended bass register, was proposed to me by decacordist Mari Mäntylä in 2024. It didn't take me long to get interested in arranging my original Memoria etude for decacorde's 10 strings. I also shared Mari's feeling that the reworked version should throw in new, contrasting music to the original etude.

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While the original Memoria nods at the aesthtetic of Baroque music, its sound is now further enhanced with the new sonic possibilities offered by decacorde's bass strings. The new, contrasting material heard at the beginning of the piece and again between measures 42 and 64, is based on the series of arpeggios and rich use of harmonics, to be interpreted freely and with continuous rubato manner.