two pieces for chamber ensemble: I. Arabescata
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
date: 2003
duration: 6'
first performance: 9 August 2003; Aspen Music Festival, CO; Proteus; Sydney Hodkinson, cond.
availability: for sale
recording availability: non-commercial
detailed orchestration: fl, cl, vn, vc, perc: mar/vib/lg. djmb/KD/SD/4 tom/3 cymb (splash, crash, Chinese), pf
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NOTES
Both works comprising Two Pieces for Chamber Ensemble — Arabescata and Gravity and Air — are arrangements of two pieces from my Scordatura Suite for solo guitar.
In spite of having studied the classical guitar seriously for a number of years, these pieces are somehow deeply connected to my early experiences as a rock guitarist. The guitar represents a very intuitive and physical side of my music making, while my ensemble works, which I hope are no less visceral, grow out of ideas and expressions of sound that I hear in my mind. It is my creative goal to somehow combine these two different stylistic approaches in order to derive a deeper and more developed musical language as a composer.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this experiment lies in the difference in character between the different versions of the pieces. While all musical constructs of the pieces are the same (melody, harmony, form, rhythm, etc...) each work takes on a completely different character than its original, guitar predecessor.