Mette Nielsen
Tall Figure (2024) for violin and piano
Dur. 14 – 15′
Commissioned by EarUnit
Written for the Giacometti sculpture “Tall Figure” for performance at SMK in May 2024
SCORE
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Composed with support from the Danish Arts Foundation Supported by Koda’s Cultural Funds. Støttet af Kodas kulturelle midler.
Edition·S publications are supported by the Danish Arts Foundation / Edition·S udgivelser er støttet af Statens Kunstfond
Mette Nielsen
Tall Figure (2024) for violin and piano
Dur. 14 – 15′
NOTES
Tall Figure is written with inspiration from the Giacometti sculpture of the same name.
In the piece, the musicians are asked to imitate the sculpture physically in between musical figures, which are a concrete calculation of the ratios between the different parts of the sculpture.
Each musical section represents the sculpture as a whole, and the piece in its entirety represents the sculpture as a whole.
The space around the sculpture – the silences in the music – is important, as it allows us to see the figure in relation to ourselves.
Programme Notes
The female figure stands stretched out and porous in the space. The sculpture is catching a glimpse of reality as seen through the eye of the artist. The eye constantly sees the world appear, fade away, reappear, and disappear.
The music is just as fleeting. In the moment it is perceived, it is gone. Something shows itself and is quickly gone again. The musicians attempt to hold on to a musical figure or a silence – but both are fragile and quickly disappear again.
Kvindefiguren står udstrakt og porøs i rummet. Skulpturen er et glimt af virkeligheden, set gennem kunstnerens øje. Øjet ser verden tone frem, forsvinde, tone frem igen og forsvinde.
Musikken er lige så flygtig. I det øjeblik, den opfanges, er den væk. Noget viser sig og er hurtigt væk igen. Musikerne forsøger at fastholde en musikalsk figur eller en stilhed –men begge dele er skrøbelige og hurtigt væk igen.
sculpture
In the physically calculation sculpture. Each piece
The space important,
Pr o g
The female The sculpture eye of away, The music gone. musicians are fragile
Kvindefiguren glimt tone
Musikken Noget fastholde skrøbelige
Abbreviations:
h.b.p, scr.: high bow pressure, scrat s.p.: sul ponticello
extr. s.p.: extreme sul ponticello s.t.: sul tasto
PERFORMANCE NOTES
Abbreviations
h.b.p, scr. high bow pressure, scratch
s.p. sul ponticello
extr. s.p. extreme sul ponticello
s.t. sul tasto ord. ordinario
Position
In the middle of the stage, right in front of the audience, is a spot (unmarked) called “X” in the score. The musicians are asked to go to X and get into the POSITION, i.e. to stand as though they are the sculpture.
To get into the POSITION:
Start in a neutral position and let this movement move from your feet up through your body: Stand with your feet close together.
Feel your legs stretch out while keeping them completely together. Your arms are glued to your sides, hands resting on the outside of your thighs. Your pelvis is tilted in to make your back completely even, your spine stretches out, impossibly long. You can feel the air between your vertebrae. Your shoulders are straight, tilted back a little, chest slightly out.
Your face is neutral, gazing straight ahead. Your head is lifted a little, as if you had a hundred helium balloons attached to the top of your head.
Stand like this, always striving to become a little taller, while keeping your feet firmly on the ground, until the other musician has finished playing the section.
In the longer sections, you can take a little longer to get into the POSITION. It should never feel rushed, this is a slow, controlled movement.
Fermatas
Each section ends with a silence with a fermata. Sometimes this is used for one of the musicians to go to X – in this case, the fermata should last long enough for them to go to X without rushing.
Everywhere else, hold the fermata as long as it feels natural to do. The silence should be active.
Playing Letter C
In this section the time slows down. Each bar lasts from c. 5 seconds (5″) to 11⁄2 minute (1′30″). The times given above each bar are approximate and should not be kept very strictly. Improvise using the notes in the bar: the first whole note of the bar is the ‘main’ note, but you can play the notes in any order and as many times as you like – choosing your own rhythms and tempo to play in.
Play what you think is missing at any point, and explore waves of sound as well as silences together.
The sections C and D together should start and end p and reach f at some point during C. The violin moves from high bow pressure, scratch to ord. to extreme sul ponticello during C. You can move back and forth in these techniques along the way, as long as this is the overall shape. There should not be a long break before D. Find a time together where it feels right to continue into D and return to a common tempo.
r a l l . , p o c o r u b a to
V l n .
P n o p pp
V l n
P n o
V l n
P n o 38 &--s u l t a s t o s . t . p o s s i b i l e
p pp u n a c o rd a
F r e e l y, n o te m p o - t i m e s a r e a p p r o x i m a t e i m p r o v i s e o n e b a r a t a t i m e , u s i n g t h e n o t e s i n t h e b a r o v e r a l l d y n a m i c s h a p e i s m a k e w a v e s o f s o u n d t o g e t h e r - e x p l o r e c o m m o n s i l e n c e s a s w e l l → f →
1 0 ' ' G r a d u a l l y m o v e f r o m s c r a t c h → o r d → e x t r s p t h r o u g h o u t t h i s s e c t i o n ( s c r ) o 1 0 ' ' 2
