Richard Vella    composer

The word 'enchantment' has many connotations, all of which can generally be defined as being charmed or captivated. The Enchantments for Piano are based on some of the interpretations of the word enchantment.  To enchant literally means to cast someone under a spell through the act of singing.

'Incantation' takes the perspective of the enchanter. Here the enchanter varyingly repeats a mantra like motif in order to conjure up the magic needed for an enchantment.   

'Spellbound', with its momentary loose allusions to the song I put a spell on you by Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1929-2000), refers to the enchanter and enchanted, both caught up in a state of captivation.

'Rapture' draws upon and repurposes some gestures that can be linked to musical Romanticism and Impressionism. The tonal shifts between tertian harmonies and free chromaticism portray the waves one feels when being overwhelmed while in a state of enchantment.

'Hommage' nostalgically and reverently celebrates  various textures, harmonies and gestures from the early to mid twentieth century used by three composers: Anton Webern (1883-1945), Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972), and Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007). Informed by Stefan Wolpe's term the autonomous fragment and Stockhausen's moment form, the phrases in 'Hommage' are independent to each other, threaded together by various octave placements of the opening note 'F'.

'Charisma' explores the exhilaration of being enchanted. However, on the other side of enchantment is disenchantment which can unexpectedly usurp, or slowly undermine, the state of euphoria. Once disenchantment intervenes, for some a reconciliation emerges resulting with an ambivalent containment of enchantment and disenchantment.

The five movements of Enchantments for Piano can be played as a whole set, individually or selected subsets.