L.S. (waiting for changes) for Ensemble (2001)
Genre: Instrumental Music
The piece was written in 2001 and was composed
especially for the Luxembourg Sinfonietta.
Because of the particular and flexible instrumental
formation of the Luxembourg Sinfonietta, the idea of composing a piece for a
big ENSEMBLE (about 20 instruments) with this particular characteristics in
timbre was very exciting indeed.
Taking this aspect I tried to compose a piece with an
evolutionary form, that considers the virtuosity of each of the instruments
(all have some kind of solo participation in the score) and the unusual
combination of different timbres.
There is an extra-musical connotation that has to be
understood beforehand about the changes mentioned on the title: 2001 was a bad
year for me in the personal aspect, and the hope of changes to happen at that
particular point (that indeed took place short time after the composition of the
piece) led me to parameterise the concept of changing to the whole
compositional process. These take multiple shapes and meaning throughout the
piece: on one side, the changing of instrumentation in each of the different
formal sections of the piece; on the other side, the almost constant (sometimes
dynamic, sometimes static) changes of tempo which are related to the change of
mood that involves each of the sections of the piece that is complemented by
extreme contrasts in the registers used.
Because most of the pitch material relates to the
first chords heard on the accordion and piano, the XI different sections can be
perceived as 9 variations (in an extended way, involving also extreme registers
for the instruments) with and introduction and a coda, which show the material
in its basic form. There is also a very strong change of spectra used in some
parts, where noise is almost the only compositional parameter.
Being composed to be presented at the Luxembourg
Sinfonietta contest 2001, this piece had to be instrumented within the rules
imposed by this contest. Although the piece was not selected by the jury, the
Luxembourg Sinfonietta wanted to present it still during the 2002 season.
The title "LS" refers obviously to the
group giving birth to this piece. The second part of the title: "waiting
for changes" is to be understood more personally, because I was having a
rough time during the months I was composing it, waiting for some changes to
come up to my life.
The form develops all the time, having no point where
some materials are to be developed or even repeated. Because of the fantastic
choice of instruments I had, I tried to make some solo-virtuoso parts for some
of them.
The pitches and rhythms of the work are taken from
the two words "Luxembourg Sinfonietta"
.
Ensemble:
Piccolo, flute, clarinet in b, bass-
clarinet in b (with low b), tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, 2x trumpets in
c, horn, trombone, Tuba, percussion (see details on the score), piano,
accordion, 2 violins, 3 celli.