Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

'Klingeln der Änderungen' or 'Ringing the Changes' was especially composed for the Federation Bell Installation in Birrarung Marr (Melbourne, Australia), which was designed by Neil McLachlan and Anton Hassell in association with Australian Bell Pty Ltd and comprises of thirty-nine computer-controlled harmonic and polytonal bells. In the tradition of American composer, pianist and theorist Henry Cowell (1897-1965) and his monumental publication of New Musical Resources (1930), the work explores a variety of compositional techniques developed during the twentieth century by American experimentalist composer Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) and documented by Kyle Gann in The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (1995). All thirty-nine harmonic and polytonal pitches of the bells are adopted as the basic pitch material, while the first nine prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23) and associated twenty-three-limit frequency ratios form the basis for rhythmic development.

The pitch material is sequentially organized according to two principles: (1) the melodic shape or contour of Anton Webern's (1883-1945) Konzert für neun Instrumente, or Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 (1934) tone row; and (2) the Plain Bob (6 cycles of the three-digit pattern incorporated into canons 4, 6 and 8), Plain Bob Minimus (24 cycles of the four-digit patternincorporated into canons 3, 5 and 7), Plain Bob Doubles (40 cycles of the five-digit patternincorporated into canon 2), Plain Bob Minor (60 cycles of the six-digit patternincorporated into canon 1), and Plain Bob Triples (84 cycles of the seven-digit patternincorporated into canon 9) bell ringing sequences.

Work Details

Year: 2012

Instrumentation: The Federation Bells Installation in Birrarung Marr, Melbourne (39 harmonic and polytonal bells).

Duration: 10 min.

Difficulty: N/A - Not for live performance

Dedication note: Homenaje a Anton Webern (1883-1945)

Commission note: Composed for the Federation Bells (Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, Australia)

First performance: 8 Sep 12. Federation Bells, Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, Australia

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc on this work:
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), Anton Webern’s (1883-1945), harmonic and polytonal bells, just intonation, bell ringing