for viola and orchestra
RAGA III fits into Wim Henderickx's RAGA cycle and was commissioned by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in 1995. In 2012 he made some adjustments to this work to achieve a better balance.
In 2010 Wim Henderickx made a SOLO VERSION for viola (and electronics).
RAGA III was built on a raga with as central notes C, Des and G. The first and slow part is breathing an atmosphere of melancholy and spirituality. The viola plays with the guidelines 'half awake - sad but spiritual' and presents the basic material of the work, while the orchestra is displaying the harmonic field of the music in a kind of tempura accompaniment. The Tempura is a classical Indian instrument that is also known as the tambura, it has a soft and slow droning sound.
In the second and fast movement, subtitled 'waving - lively with inner joy', there is a build-up to a big climax. This is repeatedly interrupted by ethereal intermezzi, in which the viola enters into a dialigue with different solo instruments of the orchestra.
The very slow coda, subtitled 'an evening prayer' guides the work to a soothing, almost surreal ending.
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Megadisc MDC 7833 (1999) RAGA I, II, III RAGA III The Royal Flemish Philharmonic, cond. Grant Llewellyn Gert François, percussion Leo De Neve, viola www.amazon.com |
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Hogeschool Antwerpen KVC 2004 (2004) ‘Meesterlijk - Strijkers’ RAGA III Wim Henderickx The Royal Flemish Philharmonic, cond. Grant Llewellyn, Leo De Neve, viola www.muziekcentrum.be |
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