Work
Melancholia : for two percussionists, twenty-four found objects and eight-speaker sound diffusion
by Andrián Pertout (2009)
Audio Sample
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Performance by Jasmine Chen, Laurence MacFarlane from the CD La flor en la colina |
Selected products featuring this work — Display all products (3 more)
Display all products featuring this work (3 more)
Work Overview
Melancholia was especially composed for Australian percussion ensemble Speak Percussion.
The work serves as an exploration of the musical properties of Albrecht Dürer's Melancholia 1 (1514) 4×4 magic square and investigates its potential for structural indeterminacy. The magic square is firstly presented within the metrical scheme in its original form (rows 1 to 4: 16+3+2+13, 5+10+11+8, 9+6+7+12 and 4+15+14+1), to be then followed by an additional seven rotations and reflections (270% rotation, 180% rotation, 90% rotation, horizontal reflection, vertical reflection, right diagonal, left diagonal). In the 32-bar score, each player is presented with an 8-module structure and 8 staves of music with materials that (as a 2-stave set) may be interpreted horizontally, vertically and diagonally, as well as another 30 unique combinations. The compositional strategy allows for each 4-bar module to be repeated 3, 5 or 7 times, with freedom to overlap materials (from one 4-bar module to the next) up until the closing 4-bar module. The pitch material (assigned to Player 1 and 2) consists of an 8-note series based on an arrangement of the common three bells 'change-ringing' sequence - effectively 123, 213, 231, 321, 312, and 132 transformed into four-note loops. The pitch series begins with 1232 and 2131, and is then followed by the extension 2313 and 2131, to be concluded with an inversion of this expanded 16-note series (3212, 2313, 2131 and 2313). In the next 32-note set, further combinations are then introduced (3121 and 1323 and extension 3121 and 3212), and finally, the inversion of this second expanded 16-note series is presented (1323, 3121, 1323 and 1232). The same 64 pitches are also assigned to Player 3 and 4, but allocated to each separate part (two sets of 8 staves of music for Player 1-2 and 3-4) as a 32-note series in reverse. With regards to rhythm, all polyrhythmic ratios between 1 and 16 not greater than 1 have been systematically utilized within the rhythmic framework of the composition.
Work Details
Year: 2009
Instrumentation: Percussion (2 players), 8-speaker sound diffusion.
Duration: 12 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Performances of this work
7 Jan 12: ‘Acousmatic’ Premiere: Goethe-Institut Santiago, XI Festival Internacional de Música Electroacústica de Santiago – Ai-maako 2011 (11th International Festival of Electroacoustic Music of Santiago), Santiago, Chile
7 Jul 11: School of Music, University of Auckland, New Zealand.. Featuring Jasmine Chen, Laurence MacFarlane.
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