XVI Chieri International Competition - 2016

Domenico Torta

CONCERTO
for Trombone and Strings Orchestra
or Trombone and Piano

© 2016 Proprietà dell’autore

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 Domenico Torta

Italian composer Domenico Torta was born in Riva presso Chieri in 1957 and he
gained his degree from the “G. Verdi” Academy of Music in Turin, tutored by Pro-
fessor Enzo Ferraris. Subsequently he studied composition with Gilberto Bosco,
Eros Cassardo and Guido Donati. He has produced a significant body of music for
double bass over the past few years, particularly for bass ensemble (quartet and sex-
tet), and his music is noted for its strong rhythmic momentum and drive, allied to
inventive harmony and melodies.
Domenico Torta has written a number of works for the double bass section of the
Teatro Regio in Turin - know as “ Bass-partout” - including Corto Circuito in 2008
and Perché hai scelto proprio il Contrabbasso? (Why did you choose to play the
double bass?) in 2012. The latter piece included text and music by the composer,
who also directed the production.
In 2002 Domenico Torta was commissioned by the Teatro Regio in Turin to write
the incidental music for Patrick Susskind’s play “The Double Bass”, which was
premiered later that year.
In 2015 Teatro Regio produced, in collaboration with the Museo del Paesaggio So-
noro of Riva presso Chieri, his new musical performance Paesaggi Sonori - "piccolo
popolo - fievoli fiabole frivole" (4 shortest musical fairy tales for narrator, tubolar
bells, rakes, spoons, belt, bottles, with the complicity of a String Orchestra and a
Woodwinds Quartet).
The activity of Domenico Torta as a composer of classical pieces is included in a
wider musical work, which encompasses the didactical sphere, the ethnomusicologi-
cal research and the revival of traditional music.
The composer writes:
“The unique rhythmic characteristics used here lead the harmony to a quartal
structure (chords by fourth), in the sense that the rhythm has a profound influence
on the melody and harmony, maintaining the 'melos' in a sonorous atmosphere
which is primarily tonal.
The chaconne-like beginning of the slow movement acts as a preparation for the
'quasi tango' that follows. In the third movement a humorous, mocking character
produces an amusing dialogue between the soloist and the orchestra, which not
only accompanies but continually and wittily interacts with the soloist.”
Domenico Torta