Alberto Posadas wanted to experiment with the late Baroque construct of the double variation while remaining faithful to his own fractal compositional style for a new cycle of pieces written for violist Christophe Desjardins.

The first piece of this cycle, Tombeau, is an homage to opera director Gérard Mortier, who died in March 2014. In this work, Posadas adapts Baroque-style ornaments to his own methods. The second piece, Double, is a “zoomed-in” version of Tombeau.

Posadas is interested in the viola’s endless sound and timbre possibilities, and uses them to create the deep, serious atmosphere he wanted to convey in this cycle.

Both Posadas and and Desjardins have agreed to speak to us about their work together.