Fret (Agité IV)

Brendan COLBERT
Born 1956, Ballarat, Victoria

Fret (Agité IV) (1992/2001)

guitar solo

Agité is the series title of a set of [mostly short] solo pieces [comprising works for flute, mandolin (also transcribed for vibraphone), piano, guitar, and harp] that are all somewhat agitated in character, and are explorations of selected characteristics of the instruments involved. It came about as the result of a multi-phase play on words on the famous Cartesian line `Cogito ergo sum´, and the works claim no function other than as brief cathartic outbursts.

Fret (Agité IV) takes its more individual title from both the obvious link with the instrument, and from the relationships between other meanings of the word itself and various aspects of the piece.

fret:

v.i. agitate, disturb, enrage, irritate, torment, vex; adorn, diversify, variegate. n. an interlaced angular design.

Fret (Agité IV) was premiered in Melbourne (in October 1993) by Stefano CARDI, who also gave its European premiere in Chiaravalle, Italy (in January 1994). Revised in 2001, it is approximately 5 minutes long.

Programme note © Brendan COLBERT