ORCHESTRA

 

Woodwind

 

3 Flutes (3rd doubl. Picc.)

3 Oboes (3rd doubl. E.H.)

3 Clarinets in Bb (3rd doubl. B. Cl.)

3 Bassoons (3rd doubl. D. Bsn.)

 

Brass

 

4 Horns in F

3 Trumpets in C

3 Trombones

1 Tuba

 

Percussion (5 players)

 

1. Timpani

2. 4 Tom-toms (6″, 8″, 10″, 12″)

3. 4 Tom-toms (8″, 10″, 12″, 13″)

4. 4 Tom-toms (10″, 12″, 13″, 14″)

5. 4 Tom-toms (12″, 13″, 14″, 16″)

 

Piano

Harp

 

Strings

 

Violin I

Violin II

Viola

Violoncello

Double Bass (Tutti 4-str w/ ext – low D)

 

The Orchestra Position & The 5 Groups

 

Program Note

 

V is still a mystery. Ever since the first rumour around 1963, we’re still not sure what V is – A place? A structure? A condition? The spirit of age? History as a wave of repeating Vs? History itself?

“I am every lonely railway station in every capital of Europe. I am the street, the fanciless buildings of government, the clockwork figure, the street saxophone, the tourist-lady’s hairpiece, and the travelling clock, which always tells the wrong time and chimes in different keys.” (T.P)

Can V be music? How does V sound? Is it a musical quest without resolution? Yet another remarkably scattered concept? Where the listener automatically treats the works as puzzles, wondering where all the pieces fit? In one piece.

My reflections on V became a quintet for orchestra, with its fundament based on numbers in various sets. The main structure is based on the flexibility of a yo-yo string – divided into 17 parts with 17 continuous decreasing tempo markings.

The orchestra is divided into the city’s 5 boroughs; where in the 4 instrumental categories (winds, brass, percussion and strings) are represented in all 5 groups. Piano, harp and piccolo flute are infidels. In this context. The harmony is without exceptions based on 3 major chords: D, F and G flat. It’s written from left to right. In one movement. And it will be over in let’s say 20 minutes. And it might as well be lost to any sense of continuous tradition.

 

The 5 groups & The 4 notes

 

 

The 17 Rehearsal letters & Chapters

 

	Title	Bar	Tempo
A	The human yo-yo	25	156 – 134
B	The whole crew	49	120 – 112
C	The eight variations	72	104
D	The structured surgery	91	104
E	Going down, and to the left	118	104
F	Returning to the main level	136	104
G	Hanging on the left side	153	96
H	The yo-yo again and a new song	171	88
I	Another story	193	88
J	Various sets gathering	208	76
K	A confession almost half way through	229	72
L	The not so amusing part	250	69 – 66
M	Explaining the yo-yo part	275	66
N	The part about V	298	63 – 60
O	The part about S	336	56
P	Ending up	360	52 – 48
Q	Epilogue (1919)	389	44

 

Duration

Approx. 21 minutes

 

 

 

Berlin, 29.10.2014