Score and Parts
Percussion; Piano (Score
& Parts)
SKU:
HL.234541
For
Piano and Percussion -
Score and Parts.
Composed by John Luther
Adams. Music Sales
America. Classical. Set.
Composed 2017. Duration
1950 seconds. Chester
Music #CH86273. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.234541).
9.25x12.0x0.571
inches.
English.
'Four
Thousand Holes is my own
effort to re-appropriate
and reclaim for myself
something of my own
musical past. For the
first time since my days
as a rocker, I've chosen
to restrict myself to
major and minor triads -
those most basic elements
of Western music (both
pop and classical). But
I've tried to assimilate
them fully into my own
musical world.
Approaching these simple
chords as found objects,
I've superimposed them in
multiple streams of
tempo, to create darker
harmonies and lush fields
of sound. In recent
years, I've been
fortunate enough to form
a close musical
partnership with Stephen
Drury. Steve's
extraordinary gifts
inspired me to explore
expansive forms and
textures (similar to
those of my orchestral
music) with only one or
two performers, In
essence, Four Thousand
Holes is a concerto. To
begin I composed the
score for the electronic
tracks. Steve recorded
all of the individual
chords that occur in the
score. I took these
recordings,
time-stretched them,
reversed their envelopes,
and knit the reversed
sounds together with
their original decays.
The resulting waves of
sound I layered into ten
independent tracks to
create the virtual
'orchestra'. Next I
composed the Piano part,
articulating the peaks of
all the electronic tracks
simultaneously - a feat
of coordination that
demands considerable
virtuosity from the
pianist. Finally I
composed another
multi-layered part for
metallic percussion
sounds that I think of as
sparks emanating from the
piano. In Four Thousand
Holes, strong musical
currents fall and rise,
again and again, as
points and lines are
juxtaposed with heavy,
hammered chords. The mix
of 'live' and electronic
sounds blurs the
distinction between
musical figure and
ground. As in much of my
recent music, I conceive
of the entire piece as a
single complex sonority
that evolves slowly. As
we settle into the sound,
we begin to hear longer
lines, counterpoint, and
maybe even the occasional
trace of a tune.' - John
Luther Adams.