Caricatures (2005)
Duration: 14:00
for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello
Duration: 14:00
for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello
Notes
printable formatThe first movement of the set is a musical caricature of a composer who’s music has profoundly affected my notions of texture and counterpoint. Before I came to IU, my music was primarily locked into the beat with counterpoint used mainly as a decorative device. When I was at Tanglewood the summer before I arrived at IU, a conductor named Stefan Asbury gave me immense hell about always being timid and afraid to “fly” musically. Truth was, I couldn’t find any music which flew off the page and resonated with my core musical self. Upon arriving at IU, I heard a piece by the composer of whom this piece is a caricature of and felt a strong connection with the supple nature of the rhythms within his music and the saturation of the harmony within the overall canvas of the piece. I had finally found music which “flew” and that I connected to.
The second movement is a multi-dimensional, self-deprecating joke which purposefully exploits stereotypes and the co-opting of eastern music by westerners (a sentiment often lamented by the composer of whom it depicts). Heard are bad imitations of Japanese instruments and god-awful cliched pentatonic scales. Refer to the cartoon further in the program for a blow-by-blow account of how the movement unfolds.
The third movement is an all out jam with a prog-viennese band, the “Schoenberg sex machine.” Featured are some of the bands greatest hits including the “sCreaming Kaleidoscope” and “Il Dolce, Stile Nuovo.” sexed up with some super crass and rudimentary compositional techniques that arnie Schoenberg (and missy elliott) would be proud of, this piece is a demonstration of how one can slop down some music, flip it, reverse it, flip and reverse it, and get a solid gold hit in the process.
Technically speaking, these pieces also serve a specific pedagogical function. Written within them are passages which demonstrate instrumental techniques and combinations which I always find helpful when teaching instrumentation and orchestration. Be it pizzicato. Glisses, variations in bow placement, key clicks, or wind harmonics, these three pieces are meant not only to provide a light, amusing break from an otherwise serious concert, but also to provide a student with a mini-thesaurus of basic string and wind techniques and orchestrations.
Interactive Score
Premiered: Beth Wondolowski, Flute Kelly Ann Rogers, Clarinet Veronique Mathieu, Violin David Peyton, Cello Auer Hall Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana
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