SKU: HL.14036975

ISBN 9788759868010. Danish.

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen 3 EPIGRAMS'3 Epigrams' (1963) came into existence following my piece for chamber orchestra 'Chronos' (1962). My purpose with these pieces (and others of the same period) was to explore the sound experiences of serialism in space and time but without using the original and fundamental substance of serialism - the tone row. The chromatic space was constituted by four identical and complementary tone columns (established by transposition). The time was divided into 25 different sizes, plasticly conceived and graphically notated. These distances were then divided in 25 new distances in the same proportions etc ... into smaller and smaller durations completely hierarchally carried through. This time division, 'rhythm', de-termines the gradual or sudden shifts from one tone column to another.The 3 Epigrams became a little play of my own with this material and the work is, therefore, quite clear to read and easy to play - a kind of bagatelle, really.I am now afraid that a classic situation is emerging: If this programme note is any longer it will take more time to read this than it will take to play the three pieces.Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen.

SKU: BT.MUSM570208593

English.

Tombeau which takes its title from the central elegy of the work was composed 1966-69. Its form is a series of fairly specific technical studies interspersed with variations. The introduction provides a sort of ‘trailer’, in which each phrase of the theme is punctuated by a brief quote from the ensuing studies (heard in reverse order). This scheme is balanced by that of the finale, which is also punctuated by short ‘flashbacks’. Tombeau was written as a tribute to certain composers for the piano, notably Schumann and Szymanovsky, and to a style of playing that has now become almost ‘historic’. It is also a tribute to our beloved masters, many of them obscure, who made usmusicians. It is therefore, in many senses, a retrospective work, the last of a phase, undertaken just before a fairly drastic re-evaluation of techniques, ideas, and intentions. It is dedicated to Stephen Kovacevich, who commissioned it and gave its first performance on the BBC Third Programme and subsequently at Dartington Hall Summer School.