Per Aspera Ad Astra

Brian Mark

Per Aspera Ad Astra for Solo Violin+delay pedal

August, 2020

Per Aspera Ad Astra Per Aspera Ad Astra (Latin popular phrase “through hardships to the stars”) was written for the 1:2:1 online new music intensive course run by Grammy Awardwinning Cellist Nick Photinos, and composed for solo violin and digital delay processing pedal. The video installation for this work was specifically created for 1:2:1.

I’m someone who views the world of astronomy and space travel as inspiring and strikingly beautiful, yet at the same time hostile and terrifying. Having recently finished previous works referencing the spatial atmosphere, originally Madeline and I agreed to collaborate on solo piece for delay pedal with the conceptualization depicting stars and kaleidoscopes. I had decided to take this idea further, coming across an 1894 painting with the same title that was a cover compilation for Finnish Authors in the Nineteenth Century. Tying with the COVID-19 pandemic that surrounded my environmental lockdown at the time, I created a visionary piece of a post-apocalyptic future in the year 7478, as Earth becomes inhabitable and eventually destroyed due to a large asteroid comet hitting the planet that was anticipated to take place. Due to the threat of the survival of the human race, an accomplished musician has been forced to leave their planet and everything they have ever known by taking their next habitable journey into the unknown. The violinist is playing outside their spaceship in a heightened state of loneliness, shock and fear, improvising on the instrument with lullabies, broken melodies and fragmented motives from standard classical excerpts, reminiscing on their previous life on Earth whilst seeing space and our neighboring planets and stars for the first time. The improvisation on the violin can only be echoed in the musician’s mind, as acoustical instrumental sounds cannot be heard in space due to the lack of air outside of our current atmosphere. Passing through the solar system and eventually traveling through a black hole through advanced technology constructed by NASA, everyone (including the musician) who has left Earth is welcomed with open arms by extraterrestrial beings on a unknown planet in a beautiful galaxy that man has yet to discover until this very moment in human’s next chapter of civilization.

Per Aspera Ad Astra had its world (streaming) premiere by Madeline Hocking with all the other participants’ performed works on 9 August, 2020.

-Brian Mark * Please note that a digital delay-processing pedal (indicated when pressing the down arrows over certain bars, is required for this piece. The pedal should have a delay time of at least 2500 milliseconds or 2.5 seconds. The performer is to be accompanied by the pre-recorded soundtrack provided, as the tempo is a constant quarter note/crotchet at 104 bpm throughout the majority of the work (with the exception of indicated tempo changes). In addition, all fermatas (except ones over rests and up arrow) are not traditional fermatas in the conventional sense. The bars with fermatas are meant to give space for the delay pedal to execute the loops in a timely manner before going on to the next figure. The notes and beat rests with indicated fermatas should have a slight hold, not one of a long duration.

Per Aspera Ad Astra

Solo Violin

Sweet and Floating (q = 104)

Violin

9

Y

& 43 ‰ j œ ˙ o

& ‰

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& ‰ j œ ˙ 16 P

23

.

Ṗ

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34

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47

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F

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∑

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Brian Mark

∑

U

Senza Sordino

Œ

∑

U

Œ

∑

<--------------------------------gradually to sul Ponticello before going back to normale------------------------------->

& ‰ œj ˙ 29 π

40

˙

3

3

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con Sordino

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3

j œ ˙ p

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1

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˙˙ .. œ 4 3 4 œ 4 œœ œjœ 4 4 œœ œœ . œ ˙ ‰̇ J œ ˙. p P q. œ ˙. œ œ sur la touche U 34 J ‰ Œ ∑ ‰ j F œ ˙ ˙.

P * Spicatto normale ˙. ˙. œ œ. ≈ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. ≈ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ.

U J‰Œ Œ 44 ∑ ‰≈ ≈ p 3 3

q.

˙˙ œ 34 œœ œ œ œ œ P

˙˙ . .

F

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#˙ f

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˙

* Play each note "pattern" randomly in a "Morse Code" Fashion. Fade out by the end of bar 47. © 2020 by Brian Mark (ASCAP)

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2

Per Aspera Ad Astra

&

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53

U

pizz.

∑

3

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(Rapidly)

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normale

∑

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** œ @J

q = 120

a tempo (q = 104)

& ‰

62

œ & J

j œœ ˙˙ P

˙˙ ..

73

(67)

(68)

Détaché

6 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ œ #œ 6 p 3

& 43 ‰ j bœ ˙ 76 P (at pitch)

&

83

F

&

97

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67

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poco accel

(69)

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(100)

** Ad lib. chromatically to lowest note as fast as possible, within 2-3 beats.

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(101)

(102)

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3

Per Aspera Ad Astra

Piu Mosso (q = 112-116) (slight hold) bœ bœ 4 n˙ 5 U

& 4 b˙.

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4

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109

&

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114

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(In the distance, far away)

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3

3

3

sur la touche

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122

*

˙

(In the distance, far away)

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3 œ œ ii œœ œ U‰ 4 1 œ ˆ œ œ &48 œ œœ i œ ii œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ 119 P p p

sur la touche

˙

P

44

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3

3

3

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con Sordino (In the distance, far away)

Œ bœ bœ bœ F

Senza Sordino

Senza Sordino

Œ b b œœ b b œœ b b œœ F

bœ ˙ œ œ

œ 43

˙

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f

œ

f

√ b œU œ œ ˙ J ‰ 44ˆ81 œ P (at pitch) √ oœ ȯ normale œo œ J U‰ 44ˆ81 Œ n n œœ n œ n œ nœ nœ œ F P √ normale œU b˙ œ bœ ˙ J ‰ 44 Œ b b œœ b œ b œ 46 bœ bœ F P P F œœ U J ‰ Œ bœ bœ bœ b œ bœ bœ F Senza Sordino

œ œ œ œ œ .. œ œ œ U œ œ œ œœœ œ œœ œ 5 œ œ ∑ 4 œ œ 43 5 5 5 5 f F (Flautando) √ (Flautando) # œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ q = 120 œ œ bœ bœ œ œ U U œ U # œ 3 œ 4 œ 3 ∑ œ Œ ∑ b œ ∑ œ &4 œ 4 #œ . 4 œ b œ 129 f P f F bœ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ b œ œ tempo I (q = 104) b œ b œœ J ‰ ˙˙ .. & ‰ b œœJ ˙˙ 134 F Í P 3 ** Spicatto (i) . . œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ œ ≈ ≈ U U 44 ∑ ‰ ≈ ≈ ∑ & P 3 139 √ b œ. ≈ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. ≈ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. ‰≈ ≈ & 44 P 3 125 Spicatto

accel

* Play each note "pattern" randomly in a "Morse Code" Fashion. Go back and forth between Bb an octave lower (like an octave displacement on a piano). Fade out by the end of bar 125. ** Play each note "pattern" randomly in a "Morse Code" Fashion. At some point bend the pitch a quarter tone down, before fading out by the end of bar 140.

4

Per Aspera Ad Astra

&

143

q = 120

œnœ œ nœ # œ n œ # œ # œ œ # œ œ #œ #œ #œ œ #œ

Détaché

#œ p

q = 120

&

147

b˙

F

& 43

153

√ b˙

(Flautando)

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p

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162

˙. π

˙.

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#˙

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tempo I (q = 104)

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(159)

(158)

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Œ

P

F

(161)

(160)

(157)

U

∑

U

∑

œ ˙˙ œ œ œœ œ

<--------------------------------gradually to sul Ponticello before going back to normale------------------------------->

& ‰ œj ˙ 177 π

normale

44 œœ p

‰̇ . œJ ˙

˙˙ œœ µµœœ 4 ˙˙ .. & 4 182 F

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& ‰ j 188 œ ˙ P

44 œ œ œ œ 3

con Sordino

3 &4

P

#œ œ

q = 138-144

œ !J

slow gliss

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œ

b b Ȯ

poco a poco rit.

3

sur la touche

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q.

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43

3

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Spicatto µœœ. ≈ œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ. ≈ œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ œœ. œœ. µ 44 ‰ ≈ P 3

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4 œ

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44 ˙

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q.

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œ J p

43

Y

U

‰

194 * Play each note "pattern" randomly in a "Morse Code" Fashion for bar 184. (Note Quarter Tone pitch from previous bar)