November 13, 2012

  • Convergence Recording

    The premiere of my newest orchestral work, Convergence, is now available on YouTube (and at some point it should be complete on my Audio Blog) here:  http://youtu.be/wFbvcTYibPc.  A video of the performance is also forthcoming.

    This piece was commissioned by Elliot Wilcox and the Century Chamber Orchestra (MNSCU).  Each year the ensemble performs one original work specially commissioned for them.  It may very well be one of the few community chamber orchestras that actually does this annually.  The orchestra is made up of community college students and adults in the surrounding area.  They perform three times a year. 

    The November 3rd concert also included performances of the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D, and Haydn's Symphony No. 104 (London).

    (If you are an ensemble/conductor interested in performing this work, you will need to contact the director.  Send me an email and I can put you in contact with the college for a score and parts.)  You can see other works here:  http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/skennedy.  That is also a good way to send an email my way if you are interested in performing or commissioning new work.

    I've included below Listening Guide so that listeners new to the work can essentially follow the music better.  Enjoy. 

    Convergence features “thematic/motivic” ideas that often appear in violin, flute, clarinet, and vibraphone.  One can focus on those solos especially to hear lines that will be varied throughout the work.  To further aid in listening to the work, here is a general outline of the piece:

    Section 1—Adagio Mysterioso:  Atmospheric opening introduces solo ideas for violin and flute.  A 4-note idea repeats throughout the ensemble.  The music grows in intensity with the 4-note pattern being extended.  A descending flute line, and clarinet and violin duet, signal the first section’s close.

    Section 2—Rubato:  Sparsely-scored solo section.  The orchestra gradually enters latching on to the 4-note idea, though often it has been shortened to only a 3-note pattern—emphasized as this section comes to a quiet and unsettling close.

    Section 3—Andante:  Double basses signal a new section that converges into the world of “jazz” with interesting rhythms and a focus on the primary soloists as the 3-note idea becomes extended into a new idea first by clarinet, and then taken up by other instruments.  Things move back to an atmospheric recollection of the opening section with 3-note figures again sparsely scored (a reminder of section 2 as well).

    Section 4—Andante:  A strong unsettling harmony (a diminished seventh) will undergirds the music of this section.  Unsettling intervals, often tritones, are heard like bird calls between the winds.  Splashes of sound and a variety of instrumental colors recalling the 3-note patterns provide a small climax.  A descending line in the flute again signals the end of this section.

    Section 5—Moderato:  An ostinato pattern, in 5/8, launches this section which includes one of the longest lyrical, and least angular lines in the piece.  The music feels as if it will veer out of control at any moment as the excitement moves through the orchestra.

    Section 6—Adagio:  Suddenly, all is still, as calmness descends upon the orchestra.  A timpani solo suggests something is still not quite resolved.  The orchestra searches for a more traditional harmony, though what would be considered more “active” and unresolved sounds much more acceptable after the previous musical sections.

    Section 7—Allegro Moderato:  A simple traditional triad is announced in low strings and viola.  Such harmony should come as a bit of a shock, sounding almost out of place now.  This is made more so by the strings playing “colle legno” using the stick of the bow.  One of the more intense sections follows as each part of the orchestra reiterates variations on many of the motivic and perceived thematic ideas in the work.

    Section 8—Subtractive Aleatoric Section:  The whole ensemble plays into the first “free” unconducted section of music.  Here, various ideas from throughout the piece converge as the whole ensemble essentially stops listening to one another, focusing in on their own motivic ideas.  Five groupings are gradually stripped away one by one to reveal to the listeners the different layers of sound.

    Section 9—Allegro Moderato:  A double bass ostinato pattern begins this section where some of the ideas of the previous aleatoric section recur like echoes.  There is insistence in strings around specific pitches in more agitated fashion as the orchestra tries to “regroup”.

    Section 10—Additive Aleatoric Section:  A reverse process occurs in this second “free” section.  Here, the listener will be able to watch and hear as the entire orchestra is gradually cued in over time.  Each of the five distinct groups have unique versions of the motivic thread to play and as the music spirals ever onward these patterns sometimes converge on one another between ensemble sections.

    Section 11—Allegro Moderato:  After what seems like chaos, the entire orchestra lands together emphatically with unisons in first winds and then strings converging as one larger ensemble unit.  The music begins to announce a variety of motivic ideas that seem like small fanfares.  The music moves into a thrilling 7/8 section and an orchestral crescendo building to its conclusion where the whole ensemble converges together at its emphatic conclusion.