Jexper Holmen Oort Cloud (2009) for soprano saxophone, 2 accordions & live processing Dur. 45’
Oort Cloud er opkaldt efter Oortskyen, den store kugleformede sky af isklumper, der menes at ligge omkring solsystemet i et lysårs afstand. Kometerne stammer fra denne sky. Stykket er et forsøg på at skrive musik med, hvad jeg vil kalde for “kosmisk ubønhørlighed”. Hermed mener jeg en musik, der – ligesom himmellegemernes bevægelser – udfolder sig over tidsstræk, der i menneskelig målestok virker enorme. En musik, der er voldsomt kompleks og unddrager sig det umiddelbart overskuelige, ligesom himmellegemerne er underlagt komplekse naturlove. En musik, der fortsætter sin kurs lige så uanfægtet som en komet med kurs direkte mod jorden, og besidder samme slags grusomme skønhed som to galaksers sammenstød.
Oort Cloud is named after the Oort cloud, a large spherical cloud of ice clumps taken to surround the sun-system at the distance of one light-year. The piece is an attempt to write music that has a quality which I would describe as “cosmic inexorability”. Hereby I mean a music which, in a manner similar to the movement of celestial bodies, unfolds over a span of time which when measured in human terms, appears enormous. A music which is enormously complex and avoids the directly foreseeable in the same way that the celestial bodies follow complex laws of nature. A music which continues in its course as unaffected as a comet on a course directly towards the earth, and which contains the same kind of gruesome beauty as the collision of two galaxies.
Stykket består af én eneste frase, der strækker sig over tre kvarter – i kosmisk målestok ingenting, men en udfordring både for mig og for musikerne at få til at give musikalsk mening. Forhåbentlig er musikken også en udfordring for lytteren: Lyden er fra start til slut kompakt og højfrekvent og varieres på overfladen meget lidt, og det er slet ikke meningen, at man skal kunne følge alle musikkens forløb.
The piece consists of a single phrase which extends for three quarters of an hour – a trifle on a cosmic scale, but a challenge to give musical meaning to for both myself and the musicians. Hopefully the music is also a challenge for the listener: The sound is from the start compact, in a high frequency range and with only minimal variation on the surface, it furthermore not being the intention that one should be able to follow the course of the music.
Oort Cloud er skrevet specielt til at blive opført i rum med stor akkustik; gerne så stor, at den normalt gør dem uegnede til at holde koncerter i. De mange højttalere placeret omkring publikum gør, at lyden virker nærværende, samtidig med at man stadig er omgivet af det store rum.
Oort Cloud is written specially to be performed in a room with a large acoustic, preferably so large that it under normal circumstances would be unsuitable to hold concerts in. The many loudspeakers placed around the public make for a sound that seems close by while at the same time being surrounded by a large room.
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