Jenni Roditi

Audio Available

Component

Delivery

Ensemble

Eprint Folders

Instrument

Instrument Family

Instrument Type

Item Sequence

Large Print Edition

Marketed Status

Minimum Sell Quantity

MINTS Data Available

Product Line

Prop65

Score Available

Video Available

Erik's Echo - after Erik Satie's Gymnopedie, a commission from Club Inegales (London UK) to celebrate 10 years of concerts and to invite the owner of the law firm above the club, Patrick Allen, to join the music making and play a series of 5 short pieces dedicated to him, - of which this is one. Other pieces in this series are by Stevie Wishart, Orlando Gough, Martin Butler and Peter Wiegold. First performance 20th November 2024.

Erik's Echo

Easy Piano Solo

Erik's Other Echo - after Satie's Gymnopedies. This is the first iteration of the piece 'Erik's Echo'. It is slightly longer and the music explores further afield thematically than Erik's Echo. This is the original version and it has its own character. It is available as an alternative version. 'Erik's Echo' was a commission from Club Inegales to celebrate its 10 years of activities, and to invite the owner of the law firm above the club, Patrick Allen, to be part of a club concert, as the pianist. It was performed on 20th November 2024. Other pieces in this five miniatures' series are by Orlando Gough, Stevie Wishart, Peter Wiegold and Martin Butler. Erik's Other Echo has yet to be performed in public. JR.

Erik's Other Echo

Format

Grade

Voice

The Inzides Song and the Hysterical Song (composed as one continuous piece) are extracted from the 1992 opera The Descent of Inanna, originally commissioned by Odaline de la Martinez of Lontano. This is the moment in the second act where Enki, God of Wisdom, intervenes from the upper world to rescue Inanna from the clutches Ereshkigal, her dark sister, and ruler of the Netherworld. Enki commands his Holy Flies, who can buzz between the worlds, to find Inanna and spit on her corpse to revive her! They fly off to her rescue... Ereshkigal protests with hysterical moaning and vocal agonies (improvised - see YouTube version) but the flies find empathy for her by echoing her cries in their own unique, more rhythmic way. After a to-and-fro between them she finally sighs, relieved of her angst, for now. She tempts them with a small edible reward, but they buzz around Inanna's corpse. Upon seeing this Ereshkigal agrees to have her sent!'
This myth was preserved for 2000 years on clay tablets, written in the ancient language of cuneiform. It predates the 'Orpheus and the Underworld' myth by 500 years. Here we have a matriarchal society and a female protagonist. This is one of the main myths used by Carl Jung to examine the feminine shadow archetype.
There is a 'reduced score' version of this song for voice, piano and harmonium keyboard. Please request this direct from the composer. More materials from the full score opera will be forthcoming on MyScore in due course. The complete opera is only obtainable through the composer's website, forthcoming 2025/26 or by private request. This is a study score size, - it can be enlarged through a printer to a bigger size, for performance purposes or contact the composer for alternative purchasing options.

Inzides Song & Hysterical Song

Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor Full Score Chamber Chorus, Improvising Female Voice

Names of all the movements in the suite Between the Octaves are Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. 
Ritualise, Between the Octaves finally found its identity with the word ritualise. It began as announce, became pronounce, then declare and went as far a pontificate. At that point I realised I was mocking my own music and needed to take it more seriously. Ritualise brought out a meaning to the music that I hadn't wanted to admit to. It is quite folk-like, in a primal and entrancing way. I can imagine a communal dance for some ceremonial purpose in this music with both public and private elements. Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

RITUALISE, Between the Octaves

Piano Duet-2 Pianos, 4 Hands

The Raw Song - is extracted from Jenni's 1992 opera The Descent of Inanna. This is the moment in the second act after her trials in the Netherworld, the Sumerian Underworld, of 500 BC. Inanna returns to life' and is reborn, vulnerable, fragile, but alive! 

This myth was preserved for 2000 years on clay tablets, written in the ancient language of cuneiform. It predates the 'Orpheus and the Underworld' myth by 500 years. Here we have a matriarchal society and a female protagonist. This is one of the main myths used by Carl Jung to examine the feminine shadow archetype. 

The complete opera is in two acts of 50 minutes each. There are eight singers, and the players heard here in the Raw Song. 

"There was pace and energy, with echoes ranging from Sondheim and Reich to African and Middle Eastern rhythms and cantillations... many places where the score matched the situation memorably: Inanna's return to life (The Raw Song) or her radiant first entry (Share My Joy) with its cascading string scales. Roditi's vocal writing can be imaginative and sensitive."
Stephen Johnson, The Independent, June 1992, following the premiere at ICA, London UK. 

There is a 'reduced score' version of this song for voice, piano and harmonium keyboard only. Please check Jenni's My Score catalog.

More materials from the opera will be forthcoming on My Score in due course. The complete opera full score is only obtainable through the composer's website, forthcoming 2025.

The Raw Song

Mezzo-Soprano Solo w/ Chamber Ensemble

Voice Category

This score is a SATB + 2-player performance of the larger piece (with string orchestra/gong). The singers can be soloists or form a part of a group of three or more. For more on the piece -  https://jenniroditi.uk/the-brimming-s...
The poem by the composer which inspired this music: Moving backwards/Through the future/ On my way past now/ To arrive/ For the first time/ This is a Zen map/ The original place/ Your original face/ Edges slide down/ To prayer/ I am here/ Not, nowhere/ I have every human right to live/ Out of the brimming stone of fissure/ Blinking/ Breathing/ New/ Now..Further on in the composition process, a second set of words was felt to be needed to help open a context for the first poem. These started as the phrase la di da, maybe at first, I was considering melodic material, without words readily available, so I used la di da, but it struck me there was something freeing about the syllables. La di da became an integral element of the piece. More words were inviting themselves in to explore another layer of the narrative, and these are more like a meditation.Waves upon the ocean roll/ Upon the ocean, deep/ Wave upon wave, rolling along/ Strong current below/ Go slow/ Dive down seabed silent/ Sink down steep drop/ Deep peace breathe/ Surface waves roll,/ To and fro come and go/ Waves are part of surface flow/ Seabed quiet and low/ Current's tow/ Still below/ Silent silence silent silence/ Many waves/ One sea/ Tumbling in waves/ High tide low tide,/ Still sea below/ Waves upon the ocean roll/ Waves are only surface flow. Four Songs - As One: as the composition developed, the poem and the music called for more 'context.' What started off as a simple song-setting of words of the original poem turned into what could be described as four songs, as one. The two sets of words quoted above, the la di da, and then the fourth element to appear was the gong, and with it a need to open more space in the piece. The original poem seemed to be full of emotional waves, and there was a call for more and more unfathomable ocean in the music, which the gong helped conjure. As I have been receiving sound baths in the last few years, which incorporate long spells of soundings with gongs, it felt necessary to invite in these spans of sound-time-space-windows. The gong took on that role. The Four Songs As One in the order they appear in the music are: 1. The Listening Gong, 2. La Di Da, a Divine Joke 3. Waves Above: Still Below 4. The Brimming Stone. The audio demo is shared as a Sibelius software rendition using Note Performer. The vocals are simulated using an ah-ish sound throughout. THIS PIECE WAS COMMENDED TO THE BBC SINGERS IN FEBRUARY 2024 by composer Dame Judith Weir and conductor Alexander Ingram. PLEASE CONTACT THE COMPOSER FOR PERMISSIONS, RENTAL/PURCHASE.

The Brimming Stone

SATB

This score can either be used for rehearsal of the main full score or for a small version performance of the complete piece. There would be the option of adding the gong part to give depth, colour. The singers can be soloists, or minimum three to a part. For more:  https://jenniroditi.uk/the-brimming-stone-four-songs-as-one/

The poem by the composer which inspired this music: Moving backwards/Through the future/ On my way past now/ To arrive/ For the first time/ This is a Zen map/ The original place/ Your original face/ Edges slide down/ To prayer/ I am here/ Not, nowhere/ I have every human right to live/ Out of the brimming stone of fissure/ Blinking/ Breathing/ New/ Now..Further on in the composition process a second set of words was felt to be needed to help open a context for the first poem. These started as the phrase la di da maybe at first, I was considering melodic material, without words readily available, so I used la di da, but it struck me there was something freeing about the syllables. La di da became an integral element of the piece. More words were inviting themselves in, to explore another layer of the narrative, and these are more like a meditation.Waves upon the ocean roll/ Upon the ocean, deep/ Wave upon wave, rolling along/ Strong current below/ Go slow/ Dive down seabed silent/ Sink down steep drop/ Deep peace breathe/ Surface waves roll,/ To and fro come and go/ Waves are part of surface flow/ Seabed quiet and low/ Current's tow/ Still below/ Silent silence silent silence/ Many waves/ One sea/ Tumbling in waves/ High tide low tide,/ Still sea below/ Waves upon the ocean roll/ Waves are only surface flow. Four Songs - As One: as the composition developed the poem, and the music, called for more 'context.' What started off as a simple song-setting of words of the original poem, turned into what could be described as four songs, as one'. The two sets of words quoted above, the la di da, and then the fourth element to appear was the gong, and with it a need to open more space in the piece. The original poem seemed to be full of emotional waves' and there was a call for more and more unfathomable ocean' in the music which the gong helped conjure. As I have been receiving sound baths' in the last few years, which incorporate long spells of soundings with gongs, it felt necessary to invite in these spans of sound-time-space-windows'. The gong took on that role. The Four Songs As One in the order they appear in the music are - 1. The Listening Gong 2. La Di Da, a Divine Joke 3. Waves Above: Still Below 4. The Brimming Stone. The audio demo is shared as a Sibelius software rendition using Note Performer. The vocals are simulated using an ah-ish sound throughout. THIS PIECE WAS COMMENDED TO THE BBC SINGERS IN FEBRUARY 2024 by composer Dame Judith Weir and conductor Alexander Ingram.

Share my Joy - Commissioned in 1990 by Odaline de la Martinez of Lontano music ensemble. "Inanna's radiant first entry with its cascading string scales..." 
Stephen Johnson, The Independent. First performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1992. Performed 1994, the Place London and on tour. Then 1997 Chard Festival of Women in Music, and 2009 Grimeborn Opera festival. 
Inanna springs into life as the virgin Queen of Uruk in Sumer 500 BC. She rules from her Ziggurrat with her astrological clock, referenced later in Act 1. In this song she makes her first entry, full of the power of youth and vibrancy of feminine natural born authority - "dancing on the rings of Saturn and making the Sun rise!"

Share my Joy

Vocal Full Score soloists, choir, ensemble, improviser

Chase Song and White Bull Song extracted from the Descent of Inanna opera, commissioned in 1990 by Odaline de la Martinez of Lontano music ensemble. Here in the second act, Inanna returns from the Netherworld to find her husband Dumuzi cavorting in her absence. In a classic 'mythical deal' - she choses him to take her place in the Netherworld. The Demons give chase and Dumuzi calls on the God of Wisdom for help, running through the desert, the beach, and the jungle. In comes Geshtinanna, Dumuzi's sister, and the myth resolves as Inanna intervenes suggesting a compromise: six months each between the brother and sister. They share the sentence half above and half below.' This myth was preserved for 2000 years on clay tablets, written in the ancient language of cuneiform. It predates the 'Orpheus and the Underworld' myth by 500 years. Here we have a matriarchal society and a female protagonist. This is one of the main myths used by Carl Jung to examine the feminine shadow archetype. There is a 'reduced score' version of this song for voice, piano and harmonium keyboard. Please request this direct from the composer. More materials from the full score opera will be forthcoming on MyScore in due course. The complete opera is only obtainable through the composer's website, forthcoming 2025/26 or by private request. This is a study score size, - it can be enlarged through a printer to a bigger size, for performance purposes or contact the composer for alternative sizes and purchasing options.

Chase Song and White Bull Song

SST Full Score

The Raw Song, bare bones version, - is extracted from Jenni's 1992 opera The Descent of Inanna, bare bones version.  This is the moment in the second act after her trials in the Netherworld, the Sumerian Underworld, of 500 BC. Inanna returns to life and is reborn, vulnerable, fragile, but alive! This myth was preserved for 2000 years on clay tablets, written in the ancient language of cuneiform. It predates the 'Orpheus and the Underworld' myth by 500 years. Here we have a matriarchal society and a female protagonist. (The story of Inanna's descent is one of the main myths used by Carl Jung to examine the feminine shadow archetype). The bare bones version of the opera is about 45 minutes in total. It is scored for eight voices, with piano and harmonium. The video on YouTube is of the full score version. "There was pace and energy, with echoes ranging from Sondheim and Reich to African and Middle Eastern rhythms and cantillations,... many places where the score matched the situation memorably: Inanna's return to life (The Raw Song) or her radiant first entry (Share My Joy) with its cascading string scales. Roditi's vocal writing can be imaginative and sensitive." Stephen Johnson, The Independent, June 1992, following the premiere of the full score opera at ICA, London UK. 
The full score version of the Raw Song for mezzo, chamber ensemble and optional free voice is in Jenni Roditi's My Score catalog. More materials from the opera will be forthcoming on MyScore in due course. The complete full-score of the opera is only obtainable through the composer's website, forthcoming 2025.

The Raw Song, bare bones version

Piano Accompaniment Solo with Piano

Initiate, Between the Octaves, the opening piece of the Piano Duo, in seven movements, is a sparky, rhythmic and post-modern hoquet, of some wit and almost perpetual bounciness. A ricocheting of quickly contrasting dynamics with occasional switches to distant moments. Three big plunges into legato emotional flow, release the popping bubbles of the fiery staccato material. A short final chorale settles and grounds the quick cuts, swoops and build ups that have propelled the whole piece. 
Names of all the movements in the full suite in the right order are 1. Initiate, 2. Surrender,3.  Thread, 4. Curve, 5. Encircle, 6. Ritualise, 7. Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. 
Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. 
During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

INITIATE, Between the Octaves

The poem by the composer which inspired this music: Moving backwards/Through the future/ On my way past now/ To arrive/ For the first time/ This is a Zen map/ The original place/ Your original face/ Edges slide down/ To prayer/ I am here/ Not, nowhere/ I have every human right to live/ Out of the brimming stone of fissure/ Blinking/ Breathing/ New/ Now..Further on in the composition process, when back in London, a second set of words was felt to be needed to help open a context for the first poem. These started as the phrase la di da  maybe at first, I was considering melodic material, without words readily available,  so I used la di da, but it struck me there was something about the syllables. Nothing I could analyse, but a feeling they had a reason for being there. La di da became an integral element of the piece. (Hopefully not chastised down to blah di blah!)  More words were inviting themselves in, to explore another layer of the narrative, and these are more like a meditation - on the meaning of ocean and the waves as a metaphor for life....Waves upon the ocean roll/ Upon the ocean, deep/ Wave upon wave, rolling along/ Strong current below/ Go slow/ Dive down seabed silent/ Sink down steep drop/ Deep peace breathe/ Surface waves roll,/ To and fro come and go/ Waves are part of surface flow/ Seabed quiet and low/ Current's tow/ Still below/ Silent silence silent silence/ Many waves/ One sea/ Tumbling in waves/ High tide low tide,/ Still sea below/ Waves upon the ocean roll/ Waves are only surface flow. Four Songs - As One: as the composition developed the poem, and the music, called for more 'context.' What started off as a simple song-setting of words of the original poem, turned into what could be described as four songs, as one'. The two sets of words quoted above, the la di da, and then the fourth element to appear was the gong, and with it a need to open more space in the piece. The original poem seemed to be full of emotional waves' and there was a call for more and more unfathomable ocean' in the music which the gong helped conjure. As I have been receiving sound baths' in the last few years, which incorporate long spells of soundings with gongs, it felt necessary to invite in these much longer spans of sound-time-space-windows'. The gong took on that role. The Four Songs As One in the order they appear in the music are - 1. The Listening Gong 2. La Di Da, a Divine Joke  3. Waves Above: Still Below 4. The Brimming Stone.  The audio demo is currently available as a Sibelius software rendition using Note Performer. The vocals are simulated using an ah-ish sound throughout. THIS PIECE WAS COMMENDED TO THE BBC SINGERS IN FEBRUARY 2024 by composer Dame Judith Weir and conductor Alexander Ingram. They have graciously acknowledged receipt of the score.

SATB Full Score

Names of all the movements in the suite Between the Octaves are Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. 
Ignite, Between the Octaves began with the impetus of static pulsation' (its original title) on repeated octaves. The piece is a fizzing dash of nodal vortices, small, then larger, spinning and tumbling and all the way to the finish line. This piece brings the complete suite of 7 pieces to a dynamic close, with a sense of ignition to new beginnings. The music echoes the opening F octaves of Initiate (movement 1). 
Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

IGNITE, Between the Octaves

Names of all the movements in the suite Between the Octaves are Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. Encircle, Between the Octaves, was originally called rotate, as its impetus was to generate a steadily rotating music. Encircle was later chosen as a more evocative word. The harmony surprised me as it suggested shifts and colourations that I would not have expected to conjure. Two upper rotating parts with melodic narrative are supported by bass and baritone lower parts. The final section adds a dance-like short-form to end what could otherwise have run and run and run. 
Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

ENCIRCLE, Between the Octaves

Names of the movements in the suite Between the Octaves: Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. Curve, Between the Octaves points to a fugal past, where lines enter and build in stately flow. It invites lines to intermingle, without assuming they will all arrive somewhere, or at the same time. A certain intensity builds, then scales, both up and down, free themselves from the discussion of the interleaving lines. The chromaticism suggests curving between harmonies, and is nearly always ambivalent. An assertive chordal climax intervenes to shake off the tensions, yet this peels away into further curvatures that twist and twirl, until a final resting point agrees to present itself.  
Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

CURVE, Between the Octaves

Names of all the movements in the suite Between the Octves are Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. 
Thread, Between the Octaves grew out of the call the make a single line weave between the octaves. Line was the original title. Thread, as a word, brings more texture to the title and describes what the line is actually doing, threading around the harmony. A secondary thread is heard after a while, echoing and shading the primary line, with its own treble weave. It was like going back to the beginning of making melody again. 
Here is a taste of the background to the musical world of this 53 minute compositional suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

THREAD, Between the Octaves

Names of all the movements in Between the Octaves, a suite in 7 movements are Initiate, Surrender, Thread, Curve, Encircle, Ritualise, Ignite. The whole suite follows a long line from movement 1 to movement 7. However, individual pieces are well suited to be played alone too. Piano Duo is ideally two Steinway grands, otherwise, whatever is available. An enjoyment of the tensions and relationships generated between the two instruments: grand-upright, upright-electronic keyboard is to be explored as a positive. Each piece creates its own world in the suite and can be part of smaller subgroups taken from the suite, in any combination, but the order of the pieces needs to be maintained if more than one is played. Surrender, Between the Octaves was the piece that was composed first. It expresses a simple call to return to the beginning, to return to a pure act of listening. This note..ah, now that note.. oh. This is how the piece was written - slowly, one note at a time. Listening within a space (its original title) of resonance, of edges and meetings, of disappearances and repetitions that reflect on this gentle body of notes. There is a slow-hearing that may, or may not create a tone-journey. Below is a taste of the background to the whole musical world of this 52 minute suite. During a reflective time I read the following: "The whole philosophy of dharma art (Buddhist art) is that you don't try to be artistic, but you just approach objects as they are, and the message comes through automatically." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from 'True Perception The Path of Dharma Art.' Shambhala 2008, p.133.) The 'objects as they are' became the 'octaves as they are'. As the pieces were composed the octaves had a centring and clarifying role that allowed other material to circulate around or play against them. They acted as pivots, repetitions, drones, ostinati, pointillist nodes, pedals, melodic features, struts, harmonic turnpikes, breathing spaces, bass lines: musical imperatives. The octaves called the musical shots most of the time. When the music pulled a semitone up or down and away from the octaves (as it did quite often) it was especially telling in the context of the ringing spaces the octaves were creating. I became interested in the subtle dislocation that two pianos could provide. By dislocation I mean a degree of tension between the natural acoustics of the two instruments in the room and the players idiosyncrasies as musicians.  The whole point of this work was to examine the nature of my syntax, grammar, and compositional thinking. The title demanded one thing above all: what notes am I going to use between these octaves?? My choice of notes was derived in most instances from the tempo, pitch, and rhythm of the initial octaves at the beginning of each piece alongside the individual word titles that I set out to explore as musical images. The audio was developed from Sibelius software, via MIDI to Logic samples of a Steinway grand piano.

SURRENDER, Between the Octaves

Global Sections - CORE [DO NOT TOUCH]*

Favicon

Need Help? Contact Us or call 1-800-345-6296    Live Chat

Header

Don't have a business account? Create one

Products