February 6th Concert and Future Projects

Our next concert will feature original works by students in the department: Will Healy, Toru Momii, and Cooper Troxell.  The concert will be an open rehearsal with a final performance of the works later in the semester.  Be there on February 6th at 11 AM in Skinner! In the next week, we'll feature a profile on each composer and what we should expect from their piece.

In the mean time, other members of the ensemble are working on a new work: Workers Union by Louis Andriessen.

 

Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist.  He studied under Luciano Berio and is highly influenced by Igor Stravinsky, jazz, and American minimalism.  His works are often found to experiment with post war serialism and pastiche (imitation).  He rarely writes for full orchestras and prefers to write for interesting combinations of instruments (many of these being traditional orchestral instruments).  His music is classified as being anti-Germanic and anti-Romantic.  He emphasizes the use of forceful articulation, amplified rhythm, and non-vibrato singing. (see http://www.boosey.com/cr/composer/Louis+Andriessen for more info)

Workers Union (1975) is no exception to Andriessen's style.  It's written for "any loud sounding group of instruments".  With harsh rhythms and no pitch definition, it's a largely indeterminate piece.  The pitch goes up and down at some points but there is no indication on what notes each player should start on.  It's also up to the ensemble whether they want certain combinations of instruments in different spots or where everyone should play together.  The ensemble can also shape the entire feel of the piece as they see fit as long as they are all playing the same rhythm at the same time.  I think it's going to sound a lot like a loud mob of people: everyone has the same message, but they're all screaming it in different ways.  We're not sure what instruments we're going to use yet.  There will definitely be at least one trombone and lots of percussion.  But maybe some tenor saxes? Trumpets?  Maybe an oboe?  It would be fantastic to have some singers just yelling into a mic.  We might also consider adding a visual aspect to the piece.  Perhaps some commissioned artwork being projected over the stage?  This is going to be a really cool piece and we're excited to get started on it!