Tiramisu

String Orchestra

A Musical Recipe!

Each ingredient gets its own characteristic theme – pizzicato savoiardi, legato mascarpone – and then they're combined into a sumptuous dessert...

Program note:

Tiramisu is a relatively new dish, created in Treviso in the 1960s. This composition follows the recipe for a typical tiramisu. Each ingredient is given its own characteristic theme, and then all is combined. For a while it sounds rather cluttered, of course, as it is difficult to cook without creating a bit of a mess, but by the end there is a nice rounded tiramisu melody for everyone to enjoy – see how many of the ingredients you can identify in it!
 
This music was directly inspired by a tiramisu I ate in September 2013. After our delicious dessert, two friends and I grabbed some instruments (guitar, mandolin and melodica) and spontaneously improvised the ‘tiramisu’ theme that this piece recreates. So a special thank you to those two friends, India Hooi and Matthew Lykos, for sharing such good food and good music with me. Also thank you to Claire Oremland, Laura Evans and Lachlan Bramble for their ideas and encouragement.

© David John Lang 2014

Tiramisu was commissioned by Elder Hall and was premiered in 2014 by the Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, directed by Lachlan Bramble.

Duration: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Advanced

Instrumentation
Violin Is
Violin IIs
Violas
Cellos
Double Bass(es)

Optional: Narrator (dressed as chef!)