Audio Sample
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Performance by HK Gruber, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Rascher Saxophone Quartet from the CD Pastoral symphony ; The Siduri dances ; Water music ; Carlo |
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CD
Pastoral symphony ; The Siduri dances ; Water music ; Carlo / Brett Dean
Library shelf no. CD 2031 [Available for loan]
Score
Water music : for saxophone quartet and chamber orchestra / Brett Dean.
Library shelf no. Q 784.3258714/DEA 1 [Available for loan]
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Work Overview
Water is one of the most fundamental elements of our physical
world and of life on earth. It also has enormous symbolic
significance in many cultures as the source and transmitter of
life. We humans are indeed made up largely of water. Such is the
value of water that disputes arise over its availability. Where
previous wars have been fought primarily over territory, economic
gain and the securing of mined resources such as oil, many
predict that water itself will be at the heart of future
conflict.
Water has also been much on the mind of many of my compatriots in
recent times.The past few years of history-breaking drought in
Australia have brought much devastation and despair across the
country. It is impossible to ignore the seriousness of the
scenarios that may await us, be they through war, or simply
through the effects of drought and fire. Even my new home town of
Melbourne, a coastal city and traditionally, even notoriously,
well serviced by rainfall, has spent much of the past year
employing water restrictions, with television adverts and
billboards serving as constant community reminders about wise
water use. Neighbourly chats about the weather have changed from
that of passing curiosity to genuine concern.
Water is the inspiration for my concertante music for saxophones
and chamber orchestra, jointly commissioned by a group of
European ensembles to perform with the Rascher Saxophone Quartet.
It was the extremely "fluid" playing style and extraordinary
tonal blend of this wonderful group that initially turned my
thoughts to the sounds and images of liquid as a possible
starting point for this three movement work. Hearing recordings
of their performances, with their unanimity of sound and
virtuosity, led me to a strong desire to treat the quartet as a
form of single "super-soloist", hurtling through an orchestral
landscape in a series of "rapids" and "waves" of fast, flowing
passage work. This then became the genesis of the second
movement, Coursing.
It is in fact different aspects of water that provide the origin
for each of the three movements in turn. The first movement,
Bubbling, takes as its initial
inspiration the sound of water. Emerging initially from
the live sounds of bubbling water bowls, it finds an instrumental
commentary in the toneless key sounds and pattering staccato
passages of the soloists. As the movement progresses,
counterparts of a more lyrical-musical nature start to surface,
firstly in the orchestral strings, later via a prominent single
trumpet and ultimately from the saxophone soloists themselves.
One of the most striking aspects of water is its enormous
potential of different purposes, be it to clean and purify, to
sustain, to carry, to energise. This first movement, starting
from the mere sound of bubbling water, becomes a journey into
these different states and their significance.
Coursing, as previously described, is
inspiredby the image of rushing water, aswell as by the
energetic surge of current and power that invariably lies just
beneath its surface. Furthermore, on rehearsing this movement,
the tenor saxophonist of the Raschers, Bruce Weinberger, wrote to
me that he saw, in the suddenly quiet chorale section played by
the soloists towards the end of this movement, a form of prayer
for the continuation of the earth¹s future water resources, a
sentiment that appeals to me strongly, while not necessarily
being a conscious intention.
The final section, Parched Earth, is
about the absence of water, of aridity and drought, and
the fact that it dominates our lives and thoughts even more when
confronted by a dangerous lack of it. This final movement then,
with its stark multiphonic chords and extended trills in the solo
quartet, slow string glissandi and sampled sounds of metallic
eeriness, adds a deliberate question mark to the work as a whole,
transforming it from a sonic celebration of one of life¹s most
vital forces into a lonely soundscape of dry desert winds and
bleak abandonment.
© Brett Dean, February 2004
Work Details
Year: 2003
Instrumentation: Solo saxophone quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), trumpet, percussion (4 players), piano/MIDI keyboard, strings (min. 6.6.4.4.2, preferably 10.10.8.6.4).
Duration: 28 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — Professional
Contents note: I. Bubbling -- II. Coursing -- III. Parched earth.
Commission note: Commissioned by Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe, I Fiamminghi (Musical group) for performance by Rascher Saxophone Quartet.
First performance: by Rascher Saxophone Quartet, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Lyndon-Gee — 18 Mar 04. Örebro, Sweden
Analysis
Interview – Brett Dean
by Justine Bashford
Source: Published by Symphony Services
Videos
Water Music |
Subjects
- Inspired by: Environmental themes
Performances of this work
18 Mar 04: Örebro, Sweden. Featuring Rascher Saxophone Quartet, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Lyndon-Gee.
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