7/25/2019 Composition Response 1 to Saariaho
2/3
vivacemacon calmaAG
A box is drawn approximately 26cm x 8.8cm on a half-sheet of
heavy cotton paper. The
text vivace ma con calma from SaariahosNympheais enlarged and
traced inside the box.
G and A serve as the lowest and highest pitches of the
performance, respectively. The
durations of each word are determined by ratio. The first word
is played for six units
time. The second for 1.5, the third for six and the fourth for
four. The distance between G
and A is deliberately left ambiguous, as is the precise duration
of the performance.
For our performance, we have chosen the smallest interval
between G and A,
namely one semitone. In order to perform the contour, we have
chosen to each act as
an imaginary point tracing the route that Saariahos pen must
have taken in scribing
the expressive text. However, a more contrapuntal interpretation
favoring the splitting of
unplayable loops would also be valid and encouraged. We take the
breaks in text to be
, and cue each other to proceed. The performance ends once both
players have
reached the end of the final word.
The concept for this performance synthesizes several aspects of
Saariahos Nymphea
and of Brechtian event scores. Our intent was to draw from the
raw material provided by
Saariahos work and to run it through a twofold process -
generating both visual and auditory
musical texts. Our raw material was, of course, the expressive
text found above measure
105 in the score. We found that taken at face value the text was
at least enigmatic if not
outright paradoxical. This text would serve as the vehicle for
further exploration of one of
the more aurally pertinent aspects of Saariahos piece - namely,
the small-interval glissandi
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