Audio Sample
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From the CD Selected Works by AMC Represented Artists, vol. 55 |
Non-Commercial
This item is not commercially available from the Australian Music Centre. We regret that we cannot offer it for sale.
CD
Selected Works by AMC Represented Artists, vol. 55 / Works by Eric Griswold.
Library shelf no. CD 2645 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Ecstasy (or ekstasis): from the Ancient Greek, to be or stand outside oneself.
An outgrowth of earlier works for prepared piano (Wallpaper Music, Other Planes) which have explored dense, cascading textures for extended durations, Ecstatic Music expands the intimate microcosm of prepared piano into a technicolour explosion.
At the start a series of intricately interlocking scales or modes slowly expand across the range of the woodwinds and piano. Each performer improvises energetic, jagged rhythms which, combined together, create a blurred, pointillistic effect. Suddenly the brass and piano trio burst in with an harmonic wall of arrhythmic syncopation, fusing elements of free jazz and minimalism. After a series of shifting duo improvisations, the piece somehow transforms into a gospel refrain, which slowly comes into focus at the conclusion.
Taking cues from composers as distinct as Terry Riley and Cecil Taylor, Ecstatic Music creates intense, cascading sound textures in which one can lose oneself - in a good way.
Work Details
Year: 2008
Instrumentation: flute, 2 clarinets, 2 tenor saxophones, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, violin, prepared piano, contrabass, drums.
Duration: 30 min.
Commission note: Commissioned by Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival
First performance: 25 Apr 08. Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival, BMW Edge, Melbourne
Performances of this work
25 Apr 08: Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival, BMW Edge, Melbourne
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