DESCRIPTION:
then, in oblivion... (2017)
I. Machaut
II. Bach 2:27
III. O'Neill 6:00
Composed by Nick Vasallo

Performed by ELEVATE ENSEMBLE:
Mia Nardi-Huffman - violin
Christina Jarvis Simpson - viola
Charly Akert - cello
Jonathan Szin - bass clarinet

Conducted by Chad Goodman

Produced by Nick Vasallo
Video by Dylan Powell
Audio recorded by Guy Lento
Recorded at Viking Studios, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA on March 15, 2017

PROGRAM NOTES
Composed from January 2nd - January 21st 2017. This work marks a cessation of my compositional activity for the unforeseeable future (in regards to concert music). How appropriate that I go backwards for inspiration. Each of the three movements uses a theme from a different composer. The first composer, Guillaume de Machaut, is most known for his chanson “Puis qu'en oubli”. Google translate interpreted this phrase (wrongly) as “then in oblivion.” Hence, the title of the piece. The second movement is based on J.S. Bach’s theme from Art of Fugue. And the last movement is a guitar riff written by Ted O’Neill, my friend and bandmate in Oblivion. Ted is one of the few remaining authentic thrash metalheads from the 1980s. In all of these movements, I warp the stylistic tendencies of each composer and their material while injecting my own musical decisions. In the end, we hear music from the Middle Ages, Baroque, and modern era fused and distorted as one.