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PETER IVAN EDWARDS IONOBIA In ionobia I continue to explore force-dynamics in the music for which the piece fleecercellimano forms a kind of preliminary study. Force dynamics is originally a linguistic term. It states that there are relationships between the constituent parts of a sentence based on influence. For example, a sentence like "The wind pushed the ball across the grass" involves an agonist (the wind) exerting force on an antagonist (the ball). Importantly, the natural state of the ball is altered by the power of the agonist. In literary examples, force-dynamic relationships can become quite complex as social and psychological forces also come into play. In principle, these are power metaphors. It seems that only simple examples can be depicted in music. One hears this immediately at the beginning of the work, where the percussion triggers the oboe sound: it's like a light being switched on and off. At the same time, the piano ignores this relationship between percussion and oboe. It coexists with them much as we coexist with strangers who may have heated discussions as we walk down the street. Balls and light switches are problematic as compositional models, however, since they have no capacity to act. This is where the human factor comes into the picture. While these simple force-dynamic models establish relationships between instruments, the instruments (or instrumentalists) are capable of action. The oboe is not just the percussionist's victim, controlled by him. She can react when she feels abused. She can object. She can defect, and from this agency the work develops into a subtle musical drama that drives the work forward. When composing fleecercellimano (2013) I found myself in a situation where I had to constantly manage the balance of power between the various instrumental roles driving the work. The beginning, for example, consists of a very active piccolo line, which is expressive and free, but is constantly interrupted by the other three musicians, who set tonal limits with unison clapping that must not be crossed. Of course, the dynamics of power are tricky: they can become unmanageably complex and conducive to disobedience, or dare I say it, even creative problem-solving. This was the impetus for much of the movement's evolution. roles become unclear; too many chefs want to influence my chef d'oeuvre. The collapse brings about a new order, but while the musicians take on different roles, the roles themselves always remain the same. There is always one person setting the framework; and there are those who are within that framework. The name? It consists of the instruments involved. "fl" out flute, »ee« out feet, "perc" off percussion, "cell" off cello and »iano« off piano, with an "m" to get out of it hand to make – the Italian (and Spanish) word for “hand”. Brastri per Celindano was composed in May 2015 on behalf of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory for its orchestra. The main approach of the work is a constant reconsideration of the material, treating opposites as possibilities, sometimes even as necessities. The work begins with layers of ensemble, with long, asynchronous sustains occasionally interrupted by short chords. Gradually the music focuses on a single chord, and the chord hits become single notes, with a growing layer of activity over the one harmony, passed back and forth by the orchestra, each colored differently. Essentially, these individual hits articulate a grid of XNUMXth notes; while the larger orchestra now returns with chords, they articulate the individual semiquavers. For most of the work this rhythmic structure is maintained, though the grid is questioned at a preliminary climax towards the end of the piece: there it breaks apart, and the perceived rigidity (and familiarity) of the semiquaver grid dissolves into choppy, stumbling rhythms. The harmony goes through a similar process as the rhythm. In the beginning, where the music is looking for its form, the harmonies are quite dissonant. In truth, however, this dissonance is the result of layers of chords that are quite consonant in themselves. So as soon as a single chord emerges from the tumult, a more consonant overall sound emerges. These harmonies come from spectral analyzes of oboe polyphonies, which I simultaneously performed while working on the piece ionobia have used. The moment of greatest consonance comes at the end of a passage with piano. It is a cadence on a dominant seventh chord on A flat. It was strange to suddenly find myself there during the composition process; it definitely made sense for me to get there, but staying there was impossible. So I immediately set this cadence and its pleasant character very strong Tutti twelve-note chords. It is perhaps the most dissonant and aggressive moment in the entire piece. Back to the grid. It is most clearly articulated as a striking moment of stillness: the entire string section plays semiquavers together col legno battuto. Through its noise, its stillness and its repetition, this moment moves us from the music to the machine. The work comes to a standstill. It is a moment of reflection and reconciliation, and prayer is led by the tuba, which unobtrusively weaves a little melody, picking up notes from other instruments as they return to the earlier single notes. Others follow their example, and soon there is a collection of melodies throughout the brass section. They grow, but again it is clear that in this work things fall apart as easily as they form. The rhythmic grid collapses temporarily, but rises again from the rubble col legno battuto in the violas. It accompanies us to the end, where a twelve-note chord returns – this time in the strings, growing and fading gently – and the oboe sings my one-note homage to Varèse and his work Octandre. The title sounds Italian, but has no meaning. (Neither do I know of a person named Celindano.) Instead, it is derived from the names of the instruments and instrument families in the piece: BRASS, STRINGS, PERcussion, CELeste, windows and piano. Ascent: Two Perspectives is a work in two movements, each dealing in a different way with a simple idea: ascension. The first is titled Concave and somewhat Brownian [Concave and slightly Brownish]. This rate rises slowly at first, then gradually faster. The ascent is constantly punctuated by smaller ascending movements, each time followed by descents that then bring the music back to its starting position. The second sentence is called convex. variations [Convex. variations]. It is also based on a single ascending figure, but this rises quickly at the beginning and slowly at the end. This figure is repeated twelve times. With each repetition, timbre, tempo and articulation, among other parameters, change to create a range of different perspectives on a simple, convex-shaped ascending gesture. Ssoonro is a composition commissioned by Christoph Wichert and SETTS (Southeastern Ensemble for Today and Tomorrow's Sounds), a Singaporean ensemble for contemporary music that mainly plays works by Singaporean and Southeast Asian composers. The piece unfolds its harmony from six polyphonies, which are not only incorporated as polyphonic sounds, but also as harmonic starting material, which is derived from the prevailing overtones of the individual polyphonic sounds. The bassoon appears as a changeable figure, oscillating between aggressive, sometimes surprising outbursts and subtle, even delicate, ephemeral moments. The electronics are used in a similar way to some of my more recent pieces; she not only expands the tonal possibilities of the respective instruments, but also imitates these possibilities through her own technical means. They mainly serve as an echo chamber for the harmonic material. At the beginning, for example, recordings of the individual multiphonics are “granularized”—expanded through the technique of granular synthesis—leading to clouds of sound that gradually unfold. A long reverberation is added to the bassoon for most of the piece to create a harmonic field from its immediate activities. The harmonic world of polyphony is augmented and mimicked by the electronics using FM synthesis, which uses synthesis to produce artificial polyphony around a repeated bassoon note. The name Ssoonro consists of the words bassoon and electronics zusammen. "Re" is the prefix for so many words relevant to the description of my music: repeat [repeat], revisit [take up again], reconsider [rethink]. The work Re deals with similar musical explorations as other pieces from the same period, i.e. around 2010 (this piece is the oldest on the CD). Material keeps coming back, albeit in slightly or radically altered form. The character and magnitude of these changes renew our understanding of the identity of the material. Generally speaking, I'm designing three worlds out of the three instruments - each using a unique material, especially in the beginning. As the work progresses, however, the distinction between the roles of the respective instruments and between the two types of material - the lyrical and the punctual - dissolves. Peter Ivan Edwards program:
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