Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- List of Illustrations
- Chapter 1 The conception and language of Hermeto Pascoal: first considerations
- Chapter 2 Bibliographic Discussion
- Chapter 3 The Creative Process Of Hermeto And Group
- Chapter 4 Reflections on Acoustics and Psycho-Acoustics
- Chapter 5 Selected Compositions For Analysis
- Conclusion
- Postscript
- Sources
- Plate section
Chapter 5 - Selected Compositions For Analysis
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- List of Illustrations
- Chapter 1 The conception and language of Hermeto Pascoal: first considerations
- Chapter 2 Bibliographic Discussion
- Chapter 3 The Creative Process Of Hermeto And Group
- Chapter 4 Reflections on Acoustics and Psycho-Acoustics
- Chapter 5 Selected Compositions For Analysis
- Conclusion
- Postscript
- Sources
- Plate section
Summary
The different aspects that were previously discussed, regarding Hermeto's conception and language—such as, synesthesia; the opening up to the universe of inharmonic sound that was traditionally considered to be non-musical; the polyrhythms and asymmetries inspired by the rhythm of speech and of animals; the research with timbres and noises; the polychordal harmonic language; the influence of Northeastern music; the importance of improvisation in the creative process; the irreverent and ludic spirit, etc. appear at different moments in the analyses I will now make.
The first five compositions I analyzed were recorded on the first album made by Hermeto and Group, entitled Hermeto e Grupo (Som da Gente, 1982).
Less than a year after Carlos Malta and Márcio Bahia joined the group, the repertoire presented in that first album already revealed a high degree of cohesion andahighlevelof technicalmastery. The compositions“Série de Arco” and“Briguinha de Músicos Malucos no Coreto” are veritable tours de force. In the former, the musician who has the most demanding part is the pianist, Jovino Santos, followed by the drummer, Márcio Bahia, but in “Briguinha”, Hermeto spares no member of the group.
“De Bandeja e Tudo” has a modal harmony on a bass ostinato on E, combined with the levada, which is also syncopated and polyrhythmic, of the drums. The chords, built in the manner of medieval organa, induce a solemn and mystical impression, which is dissolved in Hermeto's virtuoso flute solo, in the middle part.
“Cores” is a melody played alternately and then in unison, by the sax, the guitar, the transverse flute and the baritone horn, in different tempos, from lento to andante. Hermeto combines the instrumental sounds with the sounds of cicadas and of the striking of an iron plate, whose inharmonic spectrum the composer transcribes for the piano at the end of the piece. The title of the composition, “Cores” (“Colors”) also points to the sound-image synesthesia, due to the dimension of color established by the use of the inharmonic sounds of the percussion of the metal, and of the cicadas combined with the instruments of the band.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Experimental Music of Hermeto Pascoal and Group, 1981–1993Conception and Language, pp. 79 - 144Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015