Score & Part
Double entendre : for string quartet and piano / John Peterson.
Library shelf no. 785.2815/PET 1 [Not for loan]
Work Overview
Double Entendre is the result of a collaboration between choreographer/performer Sue Healey, performer Raghav Handa and composer John Peterson. The work explores aspects of the particular languages associated with, and inherent in, dance and music, both of which are art forms that use gesture, style, and technique, to evoke emotion or meaning in quite different ways.
From a musical perspective the piece is in two contrasting
movements, highlighting an essential duality that lies at the
heart of the concept behind the work: the first movement features
music that is circular in structure: a slow, but free-flowing,
melodic section lies at the centre of this section, and this
music, featuring an evocative violin melody, is framed at either
end with discontinuous and rhythmically and harmonically
unsettled music. The main melodic section presents two ideas that
contrast with each other but the music continues to merely cycle
through these ideas rather than develop them further. The
intention is to create something that represents the introverted,
or the 'internal', both spatially and psychologically, as if
representing an individual in both a confined physical space and
in a self-reflective mood.
The second part of the work is more extroverted in nature, and is
more linear in structure, featuring music played at a much faster
tempo with more challenging rhythms. The rhythmic elements are
additive, with many changes in meter, creating an energetic music
whose melodies are passed from one instrument to the other in a
type of frantic dialogue. This music, and this movement of the
work, is meant to represent the opposite condition to that of the
first section: that is, the individual moving from the internal
state to an external one, where interaction with other
(ill-defined) spaces and other individuals is achieved in a
variety of ways. The interactive melodic 'dialogue' between
instruments is ultimately resolved as the ensemble unites in a
climactic unison passage, while the coda section that follows
provides a somewhat ambiguous but largely peaceful resolution to
the work as a whole.
The music throughout explores the use of polymodal and polytonal
harmonic languages that are a feature of my recent music, where
works such as Fabulous Beasts (2012, for clarinet trio) explore
similar concepts of musical, as well as psychological and
physical, dualities.
Work Details
Year: 2013
Instrumentation: Piano, 2 violins, viola, cello.
Duration: 12 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by the ‘Composition to Movement Festival 2013'
First performance: by Australia Ensemble — 25 May 13. Sir John Clancy Auditorium, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Performances of this work
12 Oct 2013: at Australia Ensemble @UNSW (Sir John Clancy Auditorium). Featuring Australia Ensemble.
10 Oct 2013: at Australia Ensemble @UNSW Free Lunch Hour Workshop Series 2013: John Peterson and Sue Healey (Leighton Hall). Featuring Australia Ensemble.
25 May 13: Sir John Clancy Auditorium, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Featuring Australia Ensemble.
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