Wai-te-ata Music Press

This concerto is dedicated to the artistry and virtuosity of soloist Amalia Hall. The work’s subtitle, ‘Sama’, alludes to images and impressions of the Sufi ceremony of the same name, which includes elements of ritual, singing, dancing, music, poetry and prayers.

The Mevlevi Order in Turkey, in particular, have a remarkable version of this ceremony in which the dancers (known as ‘semazen’ or ‘dervishes’) whirl around the space in ecstatic devotion. While I creatively interpreted some of the abstract visual aspects of the ceremony and dance, the concerto does not draw on any specific ceremonial music.

The names and themes of the movements refer to the central image of the dancers and their posture: as they spin, their left feet remain anchored to the ground (Movement I — Ard, earth), while one of their hands is raised palm-up to face the expanse of the universe and the light of God (Movement II — Fada’, cosmos). The spinning dance (Movement III — Semazen) acts as a conduit between these two realms, and as the dancers quicken, their skirts expand out fully into open circles, creating a remarkable visual spectacle.

These images suggested some musical treatments. The first movement begins with the idea of ‘earth’ and ‘growth’, opening with a grounded ‘tolling’ in flutes, violas, harp and vibraphone, above which the soloist enters with a quiet but intense motif, one that gradually ‘germinates’ into more comprehensive melodic ideas. The second movement opens up a vast space of cosmic proportions, above which the violin floats in a state of detached objectivity. The final movement sees the soloist whipping up frenetic whirling gestures, in an almost constant state of ‘vortical’ force. The music fleetingly quotes two short motifs from influential twentieth-century compositions that also share this ‘whirling’ quality: Gérard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum and Helmut Lachenmann’s Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung).

Violin Concerto ‘Sama’ was commissioned by Orchestra Wellington for its 2018 season. The premiere was conducted by Marc Taddei, with soloist Amalia Hall.