Score and Parts Bass
Clarinet; Marimba (Score
& Parts)
SKU:
HL.49045834
Bass
Clarinet and Marimba
Score and Parts.
Composed by Anthony
Gilbert. Ensemble.
Classical. Softcover. 60
pages. Duration 1260
seconds. Schott Music
#ED13021. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49045834).
The
relationship between
music and architecture
has for many decades been
source of fascination for
Gilbert. A range of works
reflecting on the
complexity and beauty of
French medieval
cathedrals has been the
result. Ziggurat is in
many ways a companion to
these, albeit the type of
structure it was
engendered by existed a
good millennium earlier.
It was commissioned in
1993 by the Duo
Contemporain, Henri Bok,
bass clarinet and Miguel
Bernat, percussion, as a
sequal to a number of
pieces hed written for
them reflecting on the
architecture of Chartes
Cathedral. Although it
was a type of memorial to
a leading figure in
Babylonian (or indeed
Amerindian) society, the
ziggurat celebrates life.
Starting at ground level,
a pathway or staircase
winds up around the
conical structure,
decorated with passages
of visual narrative and
imagery. Gilberts duo for
bass clarinet and marimba
engages in a similar
journey, continuously
climbing but also
episodic, withpassages of
wild virtuoso music
separated by steady,
directed motion.
Colour-changes involving
bass clarinet
multiphonics and rich
chordal writing for the
marimba feature strongly.
In its original form the
work lasted over eighteen
minutes; in 2014 Gilbert
decided to extensively
rewrite the work in order
to sharpen its musical
focus. It is now just
over two thirds of its
original length, with
resultant heightened
intensity.
