black, less and yellow
Instrumentation:
- Clarinet in Bb
- Violin
- Violoncello
- Piano
This is a timecode-supported polytemporal piece.
black, less and yellow is dedicated to Jane Champion for her 60th birthday.
Program Note: There is no programmatic intention in what unfolds as sound in this piece: any or no relationship to the title and the sounding music is forged at the discretion of the composer, performer and listener. Despite this statement, an unfolding of material manifests through contrasting music sections to provide the listener with an experience without programmatic intent. It is the interplay between and within these sections that is the narrative content of the composition.
black, less and yellow is a condensed, passionate short piece composed from materials found in bordering into something else (for horn and an ensemble of five players) and materials drawn from the ESOLo series of solos more generally. Although conceived as a single movement work, the piece is divided into two phases: the first, calm, moderately calm and active, and the second, active.
I am always fascinated by how the combination of different self-borrowed and transformed musical materials affects how those materials interact in time, constantly changing the combined elements’ vertical, harmonic and rhythmic relationships to alter how this material is perceived when presented in different contexts. These contextual changes can radically alter the perception of the sounding music.
Duration: circa 7 minutes
© Marc Yeats | August 2024