Chamber Music
SKU:
PR.16400213S
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral.
Full score. With Standard
notation. 1+37 pages.
Duration 11 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00213S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400213S).
UPC:
680160037636. 8.5 x 11
Landscape
inches.
The unusual
combination of cello,
percussion and piano
seems more incongruous
than it actually sounds.
When I first heard the
ensemble Aequalis, in a
full evening program I
was absolutely astonished
at the combination of
lyricism, pulse, and
color. Something about
the mix causes the cello
to sound marimba-like,
the vibraphone to imitate
the cello's harmonics,
and the piano to become a
kind of proto-orchestra
of colors and effects.
Tsunami was
written for Aequalis in
the summer and fall of
1991 with the assistance
of a grant from Chamber
Music America. The title,
the Japanese word for
tidal wave (which is a
misnomer -- tsunamis have
nothing to do with the
tides), refers to the
phenomenon of an undersea
disturbance causing a
huge wall of water to
flood the first land in
its path. The initial
earthquake or volcanic
eruption that sends a
seismic shock through the
water is invisible --
it's only when that shock
wave hits land, recoils,
and takes ocean swells
back with it, that the
wave begins to form. In
successive landings,
recoilings, and
re-landings, this force
finally spends itself,
usually inundating
anything in its path,
sometimes to a depth of
one hundred feet or more.
My piece does not
attempt to depict this
natural cataclysm -- how
could it, with three
instruments? -- but the
form of the first half of
the work is based on it.
The initial percussive
shock that opens the
piece creates a stir in
the form of a cello
motive marked swelling
and employing long
portamenti pushing
upwards. After a second
shock, the cello motive
begins an undersea
journey -- very slow and
lyrical at first --
accompanied by
non-pitched percussion
only. Eventually the
piano joins, first with
echoing bass notes, then
with a rather mechanical
motive high on the
keyboard. This force
grows, the cello line
climbs higher and higher
until another
double-shock is heard --
perhaps the energy has
hit land? Following this,
the percussion becomes
melodic (marimba), and we
now have two lines in
canon accompanied by a
separate line in the
piano. This, too, builds
to a climax, and an even
louder and more vigorous
shock results. Now the
texture is a three-way
canon with cello,
vibraphone, and piano
chasing each other in
ever faster cycles of
sound. The height of this
is a triple cadenza in
which all three players
spend their pent-up
energy, one at a time.
The second part of
the piece follows after a
settling-down, and is
marked Dancing. This is a
rondo, with a recurring
theme (heard first in the
marimba) followed by
three contrasting
sections heard between
reiterations of the main
tune (the form could be
diagrammed A-A-B-A-C-A).
The mood is one of joyous
kinetic energy, with
elements of Eastern or
Balinese gamelan sounds,
and employing several
pentatonic scales (as
does the first half of
the work). It ends in a
vigorous, stomping dance.
--Dan Welcher
.
Undersea
