Piece Percussionique No.6 Requiem

Composer Name

General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c. 7:24
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Canada
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00 | Score Only - $0.00

Movements

Instrumentation

Player I: Glockenspiel, Marimba, Tam Tam
Player II: Vibraphone, Xylophone, Bass Drum
Player III: Rain Stick, Cabasa/Afuché, Glass Chimes, Sea Shell Chimes, Herden-glocke (as in Mahler Symphonies VI and VII), Large Wood or Bamboo Chimes, Güiro, Low and High Tin Chimes* , Triangle
Player IV: Rain Stick, Mark Tree, Sleigh Bells, Maracas, Tambourine (jingles only), Small Wood or Bamboo Chimes, Medium Tin Chimes1, Fnurdl**, Triangle

Tin chimes are home-made percussion instruments made from tin cans. The cans are suspended with string from a square wooden frame and optional cross-piece. This frame is then suspended allowing the cans to rattle when struck or shaken. At least eight cans should be used for each set.

Large (T1) = 48 oz. fruit juice cans Medium (T2) = 12 oz. soda pop or soup cans Small (T3) = 4 oz. tomato paste or small fruit concentrate cans

- A fnurdl is a home-made percussion instrument consisting of several strips of metal construction strapping with one end nailed into a 2×2 or 4×4 board of about one foot in length. Each metal strip should be at least four feet in length. The board is then suspended allowing the metal strips to rattle when struck or shaken.^[1]

Program Notes

For information concerning the origin of my "Piece Percussionique" series, see Piece Percussionique No. 1. Piece Percussionique No. 6 is the sixth and last in my series of percussion ensemble works. Around the time when I first thought of producing a CD devoted to my complete music for percussion, the idea occurred to create a new piece for percussion in the background with instruments that are rattled or shaken. Durations would be determined mathematically, similar to the bowed lengths in my Little Bow Piece. The original concept for the foreground was to be some kind of over-laid, narrated "performance" of My Own 'Fluxus' Pieces. Piece Percussionique No. 6 was also envisioned as a "filler" piece on the CD, since my total percussion ouvre was a bit short of the 79 minute CD length. It was eventually written in 2008 as a commission from the Toronto Percussion Ensemble after discussions with percussionist-member, John Brownell. This composition for four percussionists is in one continuous movement divided into four sections of equal length (A B A' B'). It consists of two superimposed duos. The mallet percussion (duo 1: players 1 and 2) is closer to centre stage, while the rattling percussion instruments (duo 2: players 3 and 4) are positioned on the far left and right. The lengths of the rattling on each instrument are determined as follows. For player 3 (far left) the durations (in quarter notes) for the A section are 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, derived from the sequence 1×0, 1×1 (both unused), 2×1, 3×2, 4×3, 5×4, 6×5. For player 4 (far right) the durations (again in quarter notes) for the A section are 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, derived from the same numerical sequence, but added instead of multiplied; thus: 0+1 (unused), 1+1 (not really part of the sequence, but I didn't just want a parade of odd numbers), 2+1, 3+2, 4+3, 5+4, 6+5, 7+6, 8+7. These durations units then occur in retrograde. For the B section pairs of the sequential numbers are added to create new duration units. Thus, player 3 has 2, 8, 18, 32 (0+2, 2+6, 6+12, 12+20) and player 4 has 5, 8, 12, 16, 20 (2+3, 3+5, 5+7, 7+9, 9+11). At the mid-point of the work the duration units of player 3 switch with those of player 4 and vice versa. F(orte) triangles demarcate the three internal quarter-sections and fill in the space needed for realignment. All of the rattling durations are played mp.

The subtitle Requiem explains the music played by the mallet percussion duo. Since I am considering this work (at this point in time) as my final composition, I felt that this subtitle was quite appropriate. It is a Requiem of music, not of the self. All of the music played by this duo consists of fragments (excerpts) from 31 different compositions written during my career as a composer. They occur chronologically and are divided equally within the whole work and its four sections. Since chronology was determined, I then matched each fragment with whatever mallet percussion timbre I felt suited the excerpt. Additionally I wanted each player to have one each of a wood and metal mallet instrument and no pair of excerpts to be performed at the same time. However, a slight overlap may occur. Thus, the actual flow from one mallet instrument to the next was not determined. I was only hoping that the assigned instrument coupled with the chronology of the excerpt would have some amount of variety. Fifteen fragments occur in each half: seven for player 1, eight for player 2. This is reversed in the second half. The final self-quote, a coda and an afterthought, is spoken in a friendly, but firm voice by any one of the four performers.

My intention in basing all of the active foreground on my previous works (and re-using four of my home-made rattling instruments within the background) is not to be taken as some perverse kind of egocentrism or self-quoting. Quite the contrary, this work is a statement about the problem facing contemporary classical composition for many decades - that of obtaining a second or multiple performances. But it seems that the only way I (or anyone) will ever hear most of them again is to compose them again and have a world premiere - a very strange irony. Even more ironic is the spoken coda, the final prophetic piece from My Own 'Fluxus' Pieces, where the word "tacet" now takes on a whole new meaning.

Similar to other works of mine, notions of foreground versus background, static versus movement, active versus passive, left versus right, calculated versus random are present and woven into my other pre-occupation with music based on interruptions and fragments.^[2]

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References

[1] ttp://www.horwoodcomposer.com/Chamber/PiecePercussioniqueNo6.htm

[2] ttp://www.horwoodcomposer.com/Chamber/PiecePercussioniqueNo6.htm

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