Deconstruction
for concert band
completed January 1998
duration: approx. 6'30"
This work was commissioned by the
Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra
through a grant from the
Laidlaw Foundation.
This work was premiered by TYWO
on May 22, 1998 as part of
their All-Canadian Concert at the
Ford Centre for the Performing Arts
in Toronto, Canada.
click above to download a partial
score in .ETF (Finale) format.
Deconstruction is a voyage through musical time from
the present back
to J.S. Bach. It is also an exploration of how different
composers have
come to influence my personal style as it currently stands.
Although the
foreground material all appears to be an outgrowth of a variety
of 20th
century styles and techniques, Bach is always in the background
providing
the underlying material and the philosophy as well. Deconstruction
takes as
its starting point the b minor fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier
by J.S.
Bach. The subject of this fugue has long been of interest
to 20th century
composers because it includes all twelve notes of the chromatic
scale, a
feature which might be said to foreshadow Schoenberg's twelve-tone
serialism, a technique which form the basis of much of the music
of this
century. The work opens with the saxophones offstage playing
a serialised
(Schoenbergian) treatment of the Bach fugue subject presented in
the style
of minimalist composer Philip Glass. A dialogue begins between
the onstage
and offstage elements which ends with the onstage elements dominating.
At
first they play what Schoenberg called "tone-colour melody" where
the
melodic content is expressed primarily by the timbres of the various
instruments rather than their pitch content. Gradually elements
of
Debussy's style appear. The second half of the work begins
with the
clarinets offstage on the opposite side playing the aforementioned
Bach
fugue. This perceived movement through space from one side
of the stage to
the other is analogous of movement through time, and their continuous
performance of the fugue, even when inaudible, symbolises the pervasive
and
ubiquitous influence of Bach. In this half of the piece the
onstage
elements play what is essentially a musical "collage" of the fugue.
Small
segments have been selected, manipulated in a variety of ways and
then
layered on top of one other. The sonic result, like most
20th century music
bears no resemblance to Bach but cannot be divorced from his influence.
To request a score, parts, or more information send me an e-mail.
If you do not see a frame at the left, click here.
