Abstract
The eight compositions that form the cycle of gold and shadows share a concern with the exploration of states of heightened awareness, and with the creation of evocative modes of musical continuity arising from the use of ‘shards’ of familiar materials as starting points for free association.
The two largest works in the cycle – de oro y sombra on the present volume, and shan shui (mountain – water) on Volume 2 – were inspired by the mysterious symbolic spaces depicted in certain ancient Chinese landscape paintings, while the Piano Phantasy and the piano duo in a bowl of grey-blue leaves (which opens Volume 2) inhabit a world of sensuous eroticism. A concern with ‘blended sonorities’ through the use of pairs or groups of the same instrument within a mixed ensemble, or of homogeneous sonorities such as a piano duo, provides another binding feature – as also in a thousand golden bells in the breeze and while your sound lingered on in lion and rocks, where a harp is enveloped by pairs of double basses and trumpets respectively.
Like renderings of a mountain from many sides, under different lights, and at different scales, this cycle of compositions invites listeners on a multifaceted contemplative journey.
total duration of volume 1: 72'30"
List of contents: ochre, umber and burnt sienna for septet; Piano Phantasy after Mozart K.475; a thousand golden bells in the breeze, for harp and two double basses; de oro y sombra ['of gold and shadows' ] for fourteen players
The two largest works in the cycle – de oro y sombra on the present volume, and shan shui (mountain – water) on Volume 2 – were inspired by the mysterious symbolic spaces depicted in certain ancient Chinese landscape paintings, while the Piano Phantasy and the piano duo in a bowl of grey-blue leaves (which opens Volume 2) inhabit a world of sensuous eroticism. A concern with ‘blended sonorities’ through the use of pairs or groups of the same instrument within a mixed ensemble, or of homogeneous sonorities such as a piano duo, provides another binding feature – as also in a thousand golden bells in the breeze and while your sound lingered on in lion and rocks, where a harp is enveloped by pairs of double basses and trumpets respectively.
Like renderings of a mountain from many sides, under different lights, and at different scales, this cycle of compositions invites listeners on a multifaceted contemplative journey.
total duration of volume 1: 72'30"
List of contents: ochre, umber and burnt sienna for septet; Piano Phantasy after Mozart K.475; a thousand golden bells in the breeze, for harp and two double basses; de oro y sombra ['of gold and shadows' ] for fourteen players
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
| Publisher | Composers Edition |
| Media of output | Score |
| Size | p. 306 |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Nov 2018 |