| LE PAS, LES PENTES | 1991 fl (picc.) , cl , pno , 2vn , vla , vc , cb 9’
comment
Le pas les pentes is made of a series of “panels” which all re-elaborate the same basic material. The rhythmic approach is fundamental for the definition of each episode, making them sometimes directional and sometimes static. In fact, the title (“the step, the slopes” in English) refers to a certain rhytmic technique where a regular “step” of the rhythm is met with irregularities in the underlying terrain, and automatically varies according to the terrain. This piece was composed upon request from Nuove Sincronie in Milan for the Avanti Ensemble in Helsinki. It is dedicated to the Avanti Ensemble.
For performers: A rhythmically delicate piece!
main performances
Milan, December 16, 1991 (Avanti Ensemble)
Helsinki, January 1991 (Avanti Ensemble)
Reykjavík, March 21 1992 (Caput Ensemble)
Reykjavík, September 10, 1992 (Caput Ensemble)
Reykjavík, July 11, 1993 (Caput Ensemble)
Paris, February 1995 (Ensemble L’Itinéraire)
comment
Le pas les pentes is made of a series of “panels” which all re-elaborate the same basic material. The rhythmic approach is fundamental for the definition of each episode, making them sometimes directional and sometimes static. In fact, the title (“the step, the slopes” in English) refers to a certain rhytmic technique where a regular “step” of the rhythm is met with irregularities in the underlying terrain, and automatically varies according to the terrain. This piece was composed upon request from Nuove Sincronie in Milan for the Avanti Ensemble in Helsinki. It is dedicated to the Avanti Ensemble.
For performers: A rhythmically delicate piece!
main performances
Milan, December 16, 1991 (Avanti Ensemble)
Helsinki, January 1991 (Avanti Ensemble)
Reykjavík, March 21 1992 (Caput Ensemble)
Reykjavík, September 10, 1992 (Caput Ensemble)
Reykjavík, July 11, 1993 (Caput Ensemble)
Paris, February 1995 (Ensemble L’Itinéraire)
| KVENNA HEITI | 2001 mixed choir 5’
comment
A sort of ‘burlesque’ on a text by Snorri Sturluson: a list of several different names for ‘woman’ in Icelandic. The piece employs speakers, screamers and rappers beside the normal voices.
main performances
Reykjavík, February 2006, Vox Academica
| JUGGLER’S TENT, THE | 1999 horn and harp 12’
comment
When I set out to write this piece I quite naturally started designing a very tightly woven rhythmical and contrapuntal structure so as to contrast the somewhat ‘salonesque’ colour this instrumental combination tends to have. I came up with a four-voice pattern, which only employs a total of six notes. The four movements each present a different interpretation of this pattern – the first one for example uses only four notes. At the end I guess the whole work presents an interesting contrast between the absolute rigour of the methods employed and the apparent spontaneousness of the surface, perhaps providing new proof that entertainment and consequentiality are not antonymous
comment
When I set out to write this piece I quite naturally started designing a very tightly woven rhythmical and contrapuntal structure so as to contrast the somewhat ‘salonesque’ colour this instrumental combination tends to have. I came up with a four-voice pattern, which only employs a total of six notes. The four movements each present a different interpretation of this pattern – the first one for example uses only four notes. At the end I guess the whole work presents an interesting contrast between the absolute rigour of the methods employed and the apparent spontaneousness of the surface, perhaps providing new proof that entertainment and consequentiality are not antonymous