logos [2013]
Concerto for violoncello and small ensemble | dedicated to Annemarie Borg and Patrick Tapio Johnson.
instrumentation: [8 players] violoncello, oboe clarinet in Bb/bass clarinet in Bb violin viola harp percussion 1: 5 different pitch temple blocks ranging from high to low / 2 differently pitched tam-tams percussion 2: 4 differently pitched suspended cymbals ranging from high to low / 1 timpani drum 29″-28″ Duration circa 14 minutes
logos, a condensed concerto for violoncello and small ensemble developed from the solo cello work ‘pathos’, following an idea to extend the work into a concerto type piece from my partner, Mark Hewitt. This suggestion quickly took hold of my imagination and I soon began to sketch out the form and instrumentation of the concerto. The material for the solo cello is largely untouched from the original but is broken into sections across the work’s duration. The additional music for oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, viola, harp and two percussionists is all new and radically redefines the music from ‘pathos’ within this context.
logos [in relation to the word meanings below] deals with “reasoned discourse”, “the argument” or “I say” in the sense of “a plea”, “an opinion”, “an expectation”, “word,” “speech,” “account.” Logos – meaning: (pron.: /ˈloʊɡɒs/, UK /ˈlɒɡɒs/, or US /ˈloʊɡoʊs/; Greek: λόγος, from λέγω lego “I say”) is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, and religion. Originally a word meaning “a ground”, “a plea”, “an opinion”, “an expectation”, “word,” “speech,” “account,” “reason,” it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus (ca. 535–475 BC), who used the term for a principle of order and knowledge. Ancient philosophers used the term in different ways. The sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to refer to “reasoned discourse” or “the argument” in the field of rhetoric. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the Universe. Under Hellenistic Judaism, Philo (ca. 20 BC–AD 50) adopted the term into Jewish philosophy. The Gospel of John identifies the Logos, through which all things are made, as divine (theos), and further identifies Jesus as the incarnate Logos. Although the term “Logos” is widely used in this Christian sense, in academic circles it often refers to the various ancient Greek uses, or to post-Christian uses within contemporary philosophy, Sufism, and the analytical psychology of Carl Jung.
