Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Auftauchen der Nacht is part of a trio of works that use similar musical elements to emphasise various representations of Night. Auftauchen der Nacht uses a continuous structure to convey the transition to and "emergence" of a clear Night.

This linear structure begins with murky material, as the light of dusk can be when Night has not fully fallen. Clearer material and musical layers, including melodic lines in the oboes and clarinets as well as a rhythmically driven bass line in the bassoons, tuba and contrabasses, replace this murkiness gradually. Quartertones appear incorporated into Harmonic Fields as the work progresses. These are placed on top of each other during the middle section with mostly Brass emphasising one while mostly Strings and Woodwinds the other. These accumulate in intensity to a climactic point.

The final section is preceded by a pause of silence, and has a quality of shimmering light. Metallic percussion emphasised this shimmering earlier, but this becomes more prevalent in the final section which is a retrograde of the first. The work ends with similar murky material found in the first section as the Night's linear progression moves towards dawn.

Work Details

Year: 2004

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat, 2 bassoons (2nd doubling contra-bassoon), 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 tenor trombones, tuba, timpani, percussuin (2 players), strings.

Duration: 12 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — Regular use of quartertones

First performance: by Orchestra Victoria, Marco Zurinccai — 2007. Classically Melbourne Concert, Hamer Hall, Melbourne

Winner of:

2007 Betty Amsden Award in the 3 MBS-FM National Composer Awards,

2004 WSOC 2 MBS-FM APRA Encouragement Award.