About the creation

Agada (a Legend) was first performed in London at the 1962 International Festival of Contemporary Music organized by the I.S.C.M. It is written in the serial technique and based on a dodecaphonic note-row with an oriental character. The source of inspiration for this work is the oriental technique of improvisation, based on developing variations.

The work is in five movements, played without any break. The first movement is an image – cadenza; the second – a quasi-theme; the third – a set of variations in accelerating movement; the fourth – a reprise of the theme in modal variation; and the fifth – a variant of the third movement.