Sheet Music: ScoreGuilty pleasures : for mixed instrumental ensemble / John Peterson.by John Peterson (2007)
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Film music and popular music, are among the two most dominant
influences on my own creativity, and permeate many aspects of my
compositions. As a composer, I am interested in taking the
influences from these vernacular forms and combining them with
aspects of, sometimes more traditional, compositional techniques.
I often consider the works that emerge from this process as my
personal 'guilty pleasures': hence the title of this current
work.
Also, much of my recent music has been influenced by aspects of
duality (male and female, light and dark, etc.), so I was
attracted to the dual nature of the two words of the title
itself: 'guilty', with its negative connotations, and 'pleasure',
with its obviously more positive connotations.
There are, therefore, two movements in the work: the first
contains evocative music, of an almost 'cinematic' quality, that
revels in the sensual nature of the 'sound' of music; the second
is more abstract and explores the more earthy aspects of a
melodic chromaticism influenced by the 'blues', propulsive bass
lines, and dance-like rhythms.
The percussion instruments used in each movement also adds to the
dual nature of the work. In order to create a particular 'sound
world' for each movement, I have chosen to use two different
percussion set-ups. In the first movement, only metallic
percussion (cymbal, tam tam (gong), triangle, and vibraphone) are
used; while the second movement makes use of wooden
instruments (marimba, wood block) and various drums (whose shells
are made of wood).
The first movement, The Sounding Sea (Beyond the Ninth Wave), was
inspired, in part, by the following extract from Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's poem Milton:
"I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold
How the voluminous billows roll and run,
Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun
Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled,
And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold
All its loose-flowing garments into one,
Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun
Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold."
The music is in three large sections, the first of which attempts
to evoke aspects of the poem itself: the ebb and flow of the sea,
and the approach of the 'ninth wave'. The 'ninth wave' is a
phrase that has several meanings: mariners often use it to refer
to the largest of a group or series of waves; and in Celtic
mythology the 'ninth wave' marks the boundaries of the mortal
world, beyond which lies a magical land where the soul journeys.
The second and third sections of this movement represent my
interpretation of the aftermath of the 'ninth wave', whether it
be arrival at a magical land, or merely the gradual dissipation
of the energy inherent in the ninth wave itself. In both
instances, the ebb and flow of the sea remain as a tangible
presence, although the mpact is much more subdued than in the
opening section. The second section is built around a cyclical
chord progression, played prominently on the vibraphone and
piano, while the third section returns to the harmonies, and some
of the melodic ideas, of the first section but in a quite
different context.
The second movement, A Wilderness of Monkeys, is more abstract in
nature and does not attempt to evoke any particular images. The
title itself comes from a phrase in Shakespeare's The Merchant of
Venice but, taken out of its original context, its meaning here
is meant to be deliberately vague and rather ambiguous: I don't
want to be prescriptive but rather provide a phrase that may mean
something - or nothing much at all: it is, then, somewhat open to
interpretation (or maybe it is about monkeys after all!). The
music is quite fast and very rhythmic throughout, making use of
relatively short and largely self-contained, 'blocks' of musical
material that are juxtaposed in various ways, often producing
sudden shifts in mood. The exploration of additive rhythmic
processes, whereby small rhythmic cells consisting of groups of
either two and three rhythmic units are added together in a
number of ways to create much larger rhythmic cells, dominates
much of the music here. The overall effect is of a dance-like
pulse where the main downbeats seem to be slightly
irregularly-placed. This can be heard in the opening section of
the movement, and thence on several levels throughout the rest of
the piece.
Published by: Australian Music Centre — 1 facsimile score (109p. -- A4 (landscape))
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 20 mins
I. The Sounding Sea (Beyond the Ninth Wave) -- II. A Wilderness of Monkeys
First performance by Australia Ensemble — 28 Apr 07. Sir John Clancy Auditorium, University of New South Wales
Includes programme note.
Typeset edition.
ISMN: M-67309-053-8
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Parts: Guilty pleasures : for mixed instrumental ensemble / John Peterson.
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