Audio Sample
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Performance by Synergy Percussion, Kazue Sawai from the CD Selected Works by AMC Represented Artists, vol. 79. |
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CD
Selected Works by AMC Represented Artists, vol. 79.
Library shelf no. CD 2840 [Available for loan]
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Work Overview
Chorale, Demon, Beacon is a sixteen-minute work scored
for the 17 string bass koto and percussion quartet. The players
are arranged across the stage from left to right: Percussion 4 -
Percussion 2 - Bass Koto - Percussion 1 - Percusssion 3. The
'outer' percussionists play untuned percussion to a large extent
whilst the first and second players play mostly on
vibraphones.
As a student in Brisbane I can recall looking in the evening at
the four television towers that were perched on Mt Coot-tha. Each
had a flashing light as a beacon and each light ran at a
different pulse constantly changing in their overall relation to
one another as they progressed in their independent cycles.
Whimsically, it crossed my mind once or twice that if ever the
beacons coincided something special should happen (a cosmic event
or at least a good TV mini-series for example) and perhaps it did
because Brisbane has changed and is no longer so quiet in the
evenings.
That idea of separate but very slow pulses which rarely if ever
intersect has provided the basis for a number of my pieces. In
this work it is treated as the background for the development of
a few fragments of material: a hymn-like phrase (heard throughout
but most clearly at the end), a melodic phrase which opens the
piece and various solos, duets and trios for the koto and two
vibraphones. Percussion 3 and 4 play bass drums, a Korean gong
and a tam tam in slow pulses doubled by bass notes in the koto;
when two pulses happen at once phrases change, when three happen
at once a new section starts, when all four coincide (once in the
piece) things are turned on their head.
Chorale, Demon, Beacon was commissioned by Synergy
Percussion for Synergy and Kazue Sawai with funding assistance
from the Australia Council. The piece was composed in June and
July 1995 and, in part, whilst in residence at the Leighton
Studios, Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada and given its premiere
in Sydney in August 1995.
Work Details
Year: 1995
Instrumentation: Bass koto, percussion (4 players).
Duration: 16 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Synergy Percussion, Kazue Sawai with funds provided by Australia Council.
First performance: by Synergy Percussion, Kazue Sawai — 12 Aug 95. Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Sydney
Performances of this work
12 Aug 95: Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Sydney. Featuring Synergy Percussion, Kazue Sawai.
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