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.
miguel gil
