UW Music: Faculty Duo: Cuong Vu, trumpet and Cristina Valdes, piano, Hodge: Passeggiata

UW Music: Faculty Duo: Cuong Vu, trumpet and Cristina Valdes, piano
Huck Hodge: Passeggiata
February 12, 2024
Gerlich Theater, Meany Hall
University of Washington, Seattle

Passeggiata

Passeggiata just means “a walk”, as in going for one. Why did I use an Italian title for this structured improv? Well, Cuong and I premiered it about 13 years ago when he visited me in Rome. I’m very happy that Cristina can join us this time around. It’s always illuminating to revisit a piece written at an earlier point in life and to reshape it through the lens of the intervening years.

Here’s what Guy Debord, Situationist warrior-mage, has to say about walk-taking, which he calls dérive: it’s “a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Dérives involve playful constructive behavior and awareness of psycho-geographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll.” I guess this just means that the destination is irrelevant; the movement’s what matters, both in space and in the mind.

This piece is an invitation to dérive with us through musical spaces, through memories of life, through a consideration of history, transcending mere cause and effect, mere chronology; let’s explore the associative affinities between eras, ideas, sounds and spaces. We will hear whispered tones echoing off the cobblestones of the via Appia, the tumult of various street scenes, the confluence of musical and historical epochs in the expanse of St. Peter’s Square, all blended into a visceral sonic tapestry.