Issuu

Yair Klartag Rationale

for Soprano and Ensemble 2021

Partitur

Sy. 5841/01

ISMN 979-0-2042-5841-3

CopyrightbyG.Ricordi&Co./Forperusalonly

Instrumentation

¥ Soprano

¥ Piccolo and Bass Flute

¥ Clarinet in Bb and Bass Clarinet in Bb

¥ Trumpet in C – with Harmon and Cup mutes

¥ Trombone – with Harmon and Cup mutes

¥ Percussion

§ Bass Drum

§ Crotales

§ Tam-tam

§ Large Cymbal

§ Waterphone

§ Five Temple Blocks

§ Timpani (32’’)

§ Tibetan Bowl

¥ Piano – also a piece of rubber

¥ Electric Guitar - with Wah-wah and Volume Pedals (Tuning: )

¥ 2 Violins

¥ Viola

¥ Cello

¥ Contrabass

Notation/Playing Techniques

The entire piece should be played without vibrato unless otherwise specified.

- quarter-tone higher/lower

- crescendo from silence

- diminuendo to silence

- gradually change from one state to another

Strings:

- glissandi should always start immediately and should be played as continuous and equal as possible

- as high as possible (pitchless)

- hard bow pressure

- natural harmonics. The diamond shaped note indicates the place of fingering, the high note indicates the resulting pitch.

Other playing techniques are explained throughout the score

Text

The main text of the piece revolved around Maimonides’s approximation of √2. Maimonides approximates √2 as !! "#

This is done in the context of an interpretation to the Mishnah, where the garden of the temple is a square with an area of 5,000 cubits (“Ammas”), and therefore the length of one of its sides is √5000 which equals 50√2, which Maimonides approximates as 70 $ ". Maimonides’s acceptance of the limitations of rational approximation of irrational numbers reflects on his general approach to rationality, as expressed in the other texts from his “Guide for the Perplexed”.

The texts in the piece are all in Hebrew, and includes:

The first 109 digits of the decimal representation of √2: 1.41421356237309504880168872420969807856967187537694807317667973799073247846210703885038753432764 15727350138462

As well as the following excerpts from Maimonides:

But a square area that has right angles, will have the size of five thousand Ammas. One could not know the side of that area but rather only its approximation. This is since five thousand Ammas is a size that does not converge, but can be approximated as seventy and five sevens Ammas. [...] Because we will never come to the knowledge of the amount that does not converge, only to its approximation, and it is not a disadvantage in our opinion, because this is the nature of arithmetic.

Maimonides’commentaryonMishnahEruvin25(Approximatetranslationbythecomposer)

]...[להשיגן.וטבעובכוחומושגיםהאנושילשכלדע,“ ” ראשוןחלקנבוכים,מורה ]לא[פרקאשר-

“Know that for the human mind there are certain objects of perception which are within the scope of its nature and capacity; on the other hand, there are, amongst things which actually exist, certain objects which the mind can in no way and by no means grasp: the gates of perception are dosed against it.”

Guide for the Perplexed - Part I, XXXI (translated by Friedlander, 1903)

הסודותשאותםתחשובואל״ שנשובוההרגליםהחומריםיעלימוהוומידיום,שנחשבהו מאודאפלבלילהוהואפעםאחרפעםהברקשהבריק

ראשוןחלקנבוכים,מורה פתיחה-

“Do not imagine that these most difficult problems can be thoroughly understood by any one of us. This is not the case. At times the truth shines so brilliantly that we perceive it as clear as day. Our nature and habit then draw a veil over our perception, and we return to a darkness almost as dense as before. We are like those who, though beholding frequent flashes of lightning, still find themselves in the thickest darkness of the night.”

Guide for the Perplexed - Preface (translated by Friedlander, 1903)

The score is notated in C.

Commissioned by the Israel Contemporary Players funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Duration: ca. 14 minutes