Music Finland Core

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Description

As a composer, I'm extremely image-oriented, almost always requiring some sort of visual stimulus to translate into music. (I've even wondered if I became a composer because I can't draw.) Tasked with writing a piece to be performed first in a gallery, music that would in some way interact with the space and artworks around it, my thoughts therefore turned immediately to the terminology of the visual art world. "Negative space" refers to empty space around (or within) an art object, space which nonetheless contributes to the viewer's perception of form and the relationship between objects in a field. Having recently finished a long, elaborate orchestral work and in need of a radical change, I became obsessed with the idea of writing quiet, largely uneventful music that approached, or at least commented on the condition of emptiness. This intent was reinforced on a trip to New York in early 2011, where I spent much time viewing up close the vast canvases of artists such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Ellsworth Kelly and others, utterly seduced by the beauty of their works. The stark color contrasts these artists employ had the most immediate effect on the musical material for the ensemble, divided as it is into three discreet color blocks of strings, woodwinds and harp. What made an even greater impression, though, was the sheer amount of space required to display these paintings, as they are truly works on an epic scale. Epic space, empty space, emptiness made structural, visible, then audible. I was trying to make a simple one-idea piece, but after I wrote the opening music other materials crowded in, and it quickly became about the space between objects as well. As a result, the music is less about contemplating a single work than the gallery experience as a whole. (There's even an interruption by a group of loud museum-goers who arrive to block my view of a favorite piece.) Objects are placed on a plane, some distant, others in closer proximity, some sharing certain basic elements, but all essentially just sharing space. Some return, others don't. Is an object the same the second time it is viewed, or different, altered by the intervening sights? Occasionally the focus lingers longer on one element, as one does in an art exhibit, but there is no conscious narrative other than that dictated by my desire to wander between things that caught my attention. Overlaying these more abstract ideas, the music has a kind of processional atmosphere that shifts between tender remembrance and stark mourning. The background to the early stages of sketching was the Oslo terror attacks of July 2011, and thoughts of my friends and students there came out in treading, tolling rhythms and the muted, often unanswered calls of the winds.Negative space was commissioned by the Zagros Ensemble, and is dedicated to them.

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