• 0000/0330/2timp.perc/str(4.8.4.0.0)
  • 12 min

Programme Note

Tristia is a concise piece that, like a lexicon page, attempts to embrace a whole life, behind a few words, however, are defeats and triumphs, ups and downs, dramatic or happy moments. The tone of the piece is elegiac, with the characteristics of a Romanian lament. A group of three trumpets and three trombones achieve a thick sound curtain, which a melopoeia of strings in unison tries to penetrate.

The lament is followed by several brief sequences with varied aspects: in the middle of the work a theme from Perlea’s symphonic poem Don Quixote is cited.

The title of the piece indicates Ionel Perlea’s Ovidian destiny: dead in a remote place, he returns through his work to the land he was exiled from. The theme was also explored in Elegia Pontica, and the moto of the latter suits Tristia as well (a title from Ovid):
"To those whose life was shattered on distant shores.”

- Theodor Grigoriu

Discography