from the CD Mogami by Candela"Othello"
(Zabutone Music, 2002)
This album was recorded during the summer of 2001, although it wasn't released until the spring of 2002. It was a very exciting time for Candela- we were trying to develop a sound and a repertoire, trying to blend lots of different styles, instruments, and rhythms.
I wrote this piece specifically for the band. It is based on a very famous bass solo from the Verdi opera Othello, based on the play by Shakespeare. I chose it first of all because it is an absolutely marvelous solo. Written to perfectly compass the most playable range of the instrument, it shows off both the lyrical possibilities and the power of the double bass. Besides being beautiful, it captures the complex psychological drama of the climactic scene of the play in which the king murders his wife, whom he tragically and mistakenly suspects of infidelity.
The piece begins with Verdi's bass solo, unchanged from the original until the last two fateful notes which signal the thrust of Othello's knife into his unsuspecting wife. At this point, I took the daring artistic liberty of giving this tragic piece a "Hollywood ending." Precisely at the moment Othello lifts his dagger, there is a knock on the door. At that point, some friends of his enter and try to convince him not to kill his wife. Each makes his case, and little by little the mood brightens. They persuade Othello to come out for a drink, and what starts out as a gruesome tragedy ends as a dance party.