Matt Armbrust’s describes his Prelude No. 1 for Viola as both “somber” and “ecstatic.”
Twisp resident Matt Armbrust has won second place in the Malta International Composition Competition for his Prelude No. 1 for Viola.
The piece, which Armbrust conceived as the first of 10 movements for dance, uses 10 notes in a repeating, overlapping theme. For subsequent movements, he plans to eliminate one note and shorten the duration of each note, so that the final movement becomes a contemplation on a single note. As he conceived the piece, he visualized how a choreographer might interpret it.
The winning prelude conveys an inherent tension, Armbrust said. “It’s totally grounded in a somber sentiment, but totally ecstatic at the same time,” he said. The piece explores the dissonance between those two feelings, occasionally leading to a manic state.
“I’m interested in expressing something about the current human condition. I’m trying to express certain affects and ideas through sound tones, to mix and create expression,” he said.
Armbrust has been composing music for more than three decades — since he was 17 — but in the past six or seven years he’s developed a more sophisticated control of the medium, he said.
Armbrust writes lots of songs in a singer-songwriter style, doing the vocals and accompanying himself on guitar or piano. He composed pieces for school ensembles when he was the music teacher at Liberty Bell High School, and for the Methow Valley Orchestra when he conducted that group. But his primary focus is on writing serious compositions for string ensembles and orchestras.
As a violinist, Armbrust often writes for strings. He usually starts with an abstract idea in his head, which he ultimately works out at the piano. He describes his compositions as academic and avant-garde, but also direct and without gimmicks.
His work takes a range of approaches. “In terms of what I’m doing — it’s a punk ethic,” he said. “I like the DYI, gritty ethos of that.” At the same time, “I love writing songs and things with a more romantic ideal, for their lushness,” Armbrust said.
The Malta competition typically selects one piece for performance, and Armbrust is eagerly awaiting news about what they choose.
Getting the endorsement from the judges was really gratifying, Armbrust said. “It’s also flattering because it removes insecurity in my own work. I write things that move me — to have some external praise makes you feel less crazy,” he said.
Armbrust recently launched Armbrust Publishing, a music publishing endeavor. He’s currently publishing five or six works by contemporary composers.
People can hear the performance of the winning prelude by violist Tim Betts on Armbrust’s YouTube page.
