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Slonk

By thisisuser on May 1, 2017

For sinfonietta (1,1,1,1/1,1,1,0/arpa,pno,2perc/1,1,1,1,1)
composed 2017; duration 16 minutes
world premiere April 26 2017 at Festival ENSEMS, Valencia, Spain
Grup Instrumental de Valencia, Joan Cerveró – conductor
commissioned by Grup Instrumental de Valencia and Joan Cerveró
commission supported by the Danish Arts Foundation

’Slonk’ is a reference to voracious appetite, and the work contrasts and reconciles intense contractions of fast pulsations and stabbing phrases with the vast extensions of atmospheric textures and indefinite gestures, as if two worlds were engaged in an act of mutual consumption.

Sensuous appeal is always at the fore, right from the opening music’s airy fabric that resides between pitch and windy sounds, as it is elicited through a variety of unorthodox playing techniques. Subtle pitches that stand out within the nebulous presence hints at things to come and the sudden and persistent burst of running notes energise the entire ensemble, as strings and percussion engage in spurious accents as woodwind and brass disrupt, topple and contradict the unyielding rhythm that propel the music forward. Darker colours set in, and the music is finally forced into a different space, when a tempo modulation has the piano set the tone for the proceedings with some solid, rolling chordal figurations. Gradually the music dissolves into a sombre mist not unlike the opening passage, and the music further disintegrates into atmospheric noise and dismembered phrases as the piano descents int its lowest range. After reaching a low point in energy, the music slowly begins to coalesce into pulsating echoes of its former states, as shades of light hesitantly enters.

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