Lucas Galon’s Concerto for Violin, Percussion and Strings (2018)

a composer in search of his voice

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate how the composer searches for his own voice in his violin concerto while using a blend of influences such as Bartok, twelve-tone and Brazilian popular music. Galon argues that composers such as Bartok, Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos followed an independent, more varied compositional style without subscribing to any specific method.[1]On the other hand, the self-proclaimed mainstream of the Second Viennese School established a very structured, particular way of writing music. The composer seems to put into question the mechanization of composition of the dodecaphonic method, but validates its use as a way of refraining his creative impulse.[2]While Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2provides a framework for his piece; the tools he uses to manipulate the musical material are drawn from a free use of serialism and Brazilian contemporary music philosophy and aesthetic.