Music Finland Core

* Title

Additional title

Description

<p>At the end of 2011, I had the good fortune to catch the closing days of an exhibit in Stockholm of late works by J.M.W. Turner, Claude Monet and Cy Twombly. Although ostensibly landscapes, what impressed me most was the level of abstraction present in so many of their canvases. Although identifiably based on views of nature, it was as if the artists were using the landscape in order to look through it, past it, to some deeper level. A sunset became a study in pure light, or wildly expressionistic gestures could be made to resemble snow and pine branches through shape and color associations. Man-made structures – a boat, a bridge, a cathedral – appear only as vague outlines, frequently perceptible only because they are mentioned in the title, and are subsumed into the mist. Beauty is often a veil for the violent processes at work underneath, and paint, like musical notation, is merely a gateway to the truth of landscape. </p><p>Another facet I found inspiring was how a common goal seemed to render their respective techniques ahistorical in a way. These artists' languages, however distant temporally, were more remarkable for their similarities than their differences. These are the qualities I tried to capture in this short piano work, in which stylistic surfaces from several time periods overlay an essential sameness of gestural language. Colors morph constantly from bright diatonic sonorities to hard dissonance and back, gestures form and dissolve quickly into one another, from percussive jabs to soft, ringing stasis. Familiar objects come into view briefly, only to recede back into the clouds of resonance, and linear narrative is suppressed in favor of elemental contrast, the only guiding principle being a search for color, bright light and diffuse beauty.</p>

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

Paysages abstraits