9/6/23
The key parameters for this piece are that it will be c.25 mins long, formed of connecting sections to give the impression of a single continuous movement. Instrumentation is flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion. I will be working on this new version up until end of July for final delivery date to Red Note Ensemble. I very much would like to consult players with the new version as it emerges over the coming weeks, for their opinions and input on material and instrumental writing etc, and also to provide a window into the process and an idea of what to expect in the final score.
I will be using as a scaffold a previous work with the same formal dimensions, D-re-A-mi-N-gl-Y which is a piece I composed for mezzo soprano, piano and percussion. I really liked this piece, but there is more I feel I can do to add greater depth and complexity to textures. An obvious difference between this new version and the old is that it will not include a singer, and therefore, the original text I used by E.E.Cummings, will not be explicitly featured. Since I am no longer using Cummings’s poem, I think on balance it is best to use a new title – something else that is dream-related, hence Oneiroi. This is partly for pragmatic reasons, but mainly in acknowledgement of the extent that the old material will be re-developed and changed.
For context, here is a recording of D-re-A-mi-N-gl-Y for mezzo soprano, piano and percussion.
I will continue to use same notational approach that I had done in D-re-A-mi-N-gl-Y. The structure of the piece overall is organised around 7 sections – I think of these as 7 ‘containers’ of material consisting of cells and melodic phrases which performers are requested to play in free order, and cues are used to trigger progress from one section to the next.
Here is a sample score page from the piano part of D-re-A-mi-N-gl-Y . You can see fragments of material which the pianist is invited to play in free order, including repetitions, and in the box at the bottom of the page is a cue that (in this case) the piano plays to trigger all three players to progress to their next section. This is similar to a strategy used by John Luther Adams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpj9tGjKVLY
Much of the material from the original trio version of D-re-A-mi-N-gl-Y will be retained, re-cast/re-purposed,. For instance the material that was previously sung by the mezzo soprano will be revised and tailored to the various instruments of this new instrumentation. Additionally I will be supplementing with newly composed melodies and fragments to exploit the potential of the enlarged forces of sextet. I also intend to address issues that I noticed from the pervious version, such as a desire in some places to add greater variety to the percussionist’s material.
image of plans for additions and changes times mapped onto recorded version, what I want to change, present as annotated image
As I listen to opening, I think that perhaps the flute can play chromatically rsising and perhaps falling stuttering utterances, adn I like the idea of a mixed deslicate hanging set up in percussion to take on the role of previous mobile playing. maybe a wood block, and maybe introduce different pitches on crotales, or can bells be suspended?triangles?
I think I want to use 3 wood blocksc mounted , sporadic utterances -nutty sound liek this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuU2ONO4mU Schlagwerk WB 813 Set of 3 Woodblocks, could use same mallets to play maybe high xylophone or maybe marimba? So things like the wood blocks would take over what used ot be claves. and as it was, claves were playing either single notes, or a few stutters. these could be developed by making little flurries using 3 blocsk.
I like the idea of some sections where time passes more quicly than others due to the rapid turnover of material, throwing a lot of variation at listener – vs others where less goes on and there are less rapid chages.
what could take over the bell which was hand-held? crotales? and can perc hold mallets for crotals and woodblocks/xylo at same time? also vib?
oen thing I want to do overall is add more ear candy
In Gold, coudl imagine percussionist on mba shadowing, echoeing the initial piano matiera (haunting), prior to triangles and gongs entering, maybe switch betweeen. how rapid can this alternation be? again, can they hold both types of mallets? In Gold, what if I use gelatinous mateiral from Suite to haunt this section – clarinet, maybe piano too? coinciding
thining for perc opening, high xylo, woodblocks 3, a few crotales, – after a while violin enters with harmonics?
a material for vln, vc and maybe others too like mba/vibes, flute.cl where they all do some sort of trilling….
what I feel like I want to hear at start is the otehr melodic insruments playing off original vocal line, after initial stutturering, when longer values come in, also introduced A other neighbours dancing around the main line? just make sure they get triggered at same moment and shoud lwork ok? sub-cues within larger sections
thougohts about working on a large canvas
Jane Stanley 