Ricercare means literally 'to seek', and in musical usage it signifies a fugal, often strict movement. Here, a five-part canon is obtained by means of a tape-delay system, and when the 'sought-after' melody is 'found', the canon is by progressive augmentation and at the interval of the octave.
Ricercare una melodia was commissioned by the Park Lane Group and written for Jonathan Impett (trumpet) and John Whiting (sound projection), who gave the first performance at the Purcell Room, London, on 10 January 1985.
Viola Paul Silverthorne
This film was recorded as part of the London Sinfonietta's Turning Points: Sound Unwrapped concert on 24 June 2023 at Kings Place
Support our work
If you are enjoying our films, please do consider donating at whatever level you can afford to support the London Sinfonietta’s work and musicians both now and in the future – in schools, on the concert platform and in the community. It might be the price of a coffee, or the cost of a ticket to one of our live events.
Published: 28 May 2024
