Music Finland Core

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Additional title

Description

Although Points of attraction is a more abstract work than is habitual for me, it is not entirely so. Despite my best efforts to distance myself from my usual, more association-laden mode of composition, the piece very quickly – and predictably – became associative, and with that most personal and human of things: relationships. This theme is woven into the music in a number of ways. First, it is found in the odd pairing of violin and horn, two instruments which, through the mediation of the piano, have historically achieved a kind of perilously balanced, quasi-soloistic truce in the limited oeuvre for this combination. It also concerns my own rapport with my work, past and present: having kept the horn, my former main instrument, at arm’s length for many years, I finally felt I could approach it as a composer and give it idiomatic, challenging music that wouldn’t sound like a highlight reel of its repertoire. Finally, there is the deceptive relationship between different types of music heard over the course of the piece, which may appear radically different, but which are, in reality, various surface elaborations of the same basic materials heard at the beginning. The form is a simple two-part structure, with a fast movement followed by a slow one. At the outset, I envisioned the horn and violin as being in the end stages of a tender but ultimately dysfunctional relationship, with each trying in its own way to force the other to listen as they progress through different environments provided by the piano, working in vain to find points of common agreement. As the piece nears its conclusion, the musical events become increasingly disconnected, and the pair of solo instruments, whose tightly wound bond has been slowly unraveling, finally release their hold on each other and part company. As a parallel narrative to this liaison breaking down, one could add a sense of progression from indoor to outdoor, or even urban to pastoral. As the crowded, hectic, intermittently bopping atmosphere of the first movement gives way to space and resonance, the characters are made to slow down and listen – to themselves, to the others, to their environment – and find beauty and grace in the most ordinary of things.© Matthew Whittall

Year of composing

Arranger

Movements

Availability

Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin