Special Techniques movement i *Orchestral forces are asked to sing, quietly; pitches are free but duration is specified. *From ‘G’, clarinet 1 plays solo into tuba bell while valves are oscillated; clarinet should sit near soli. *Solo trumpets use hand-stopped distortions (written with diamond heads) between ‘C’ and ‘D’. *Solo trumpets use tin-foil distortions (written with diamond heads) between ‘F’ and ‘G’. *Solo horn removes slide 3 for timbre distortion (written with diamond heads) between ‘B’ and ‘C’. movement ii *Orchestral horns sit either side of orchestral trumpets to enable ‘balophone’ effect until ‘D’. *Orchestral trumpets con sord. play into horn bells to enable ‘balophone’ effect until ‘D’. *Vci pluck ad lib. beyond the bridge during bars specified by brackets, until ‘D’ and from ‘U’. *Wind instruments use alternative fingerings to distort intonation, between ‘A’ and ‘D’. *Contrabasses knock resonant wooden body of instrument from ‘U’. movement iii *Solo trumpets begin at stage left and right, facing inward to stage. Orchestral trumpets are similarly positioned but at the back of the stage (left and right corners), if possible hidden from view. All return to seats at ‘B’. *Strings bounce pencil across strings (I-II-III-IV-III-II-I motion) as marked. Strings are firmly stopped down with left hand flat on fingerboard. Upper strings also play arco gliss. that oscillates upward. *Violins 1 and 2 play short, sforzando sounds (as high as possible) beyond bridge on E string from ‘K’ onward, as well as ‘left-hand pizzicato’ open E. *Violin 1 plays E beyond the bridge pizzicato with a fingernail, after ‘T’. *Horn removes slide for timbre change after ‘U’. *Orchestral trumpets return to rear corners of stage after ‘T’, if possible hidden from view. From letter U trumpet 2 plucks violin E string, in alternation with trumpet 1 E (+plunger mute). Seating Changes Movement i: Clarinet 1 is seated behind tuba, moving into position for balophone effect from ‘G’. Movement ii: Horns 1 & 2 begin seated either side of trumpets 1 & 2 for balophone effect. Movement iii: Solo trumpets 1 & 2 begin at opposite wings of stage; orchestral trumpets 1 & 2 begin at rear sides of stage. All four return to normal places at ‘B’. Orchestral trumpets return to stage rear corners after ‘T’.
Programme Note Syzygy is a set of three highly contrasted pieces for brass quintet and chamber or small orchestra. The project arose from my 2006 collaboration on Sound Carvings from the Bell Foundry with Stockholm Chamber Brass, which led to a request from them for a work combining the quintet with orchestra that could be performed in Sweden and the UK. The work is part of a series of concertante pieces in which I have, for many years, sought to recalibrate the relationship between solo and massed forces; previous works have sought ways to pursue an interactive, reflective mode of discourse. This has in turn evolved my orchestral thinking toward an emphasis on chamber groupings, whose fresh acoustic mixtures have gained prominence over massed orchestral tutti. For this reason Syzygy draws upon the greater individual identities and chamber possibilities of the chamber orchestra: indeed one can chart a progression, in the work’s three pieces, from the treatment of the orchestra as a solid mass (in I) to its role more as a collection of individual soli (in III). The title refers to an alignment of three or so heavenly bodies in which the middle planet obscures the others’ views of one another. Here, the bodies are the pieces: the second piece, being the largest, separates two very different pieces on either side. Piece I is a stately meditation; Piece II moves from a whispered beginning to an inexorable gathering of power and climax; Piece III is energetic throughout. As in a planetary syzygy, pieces I and III remain disconnected, not only in expressive mood but in treatment of the solo brass quintet – which, like the orchestra, evolves during the work, being in piece I a separate entity, isolated from and ignorant of the orchestra (save for a solitary clarinet) – while in piece III the five brass soloists have become more concerned with orchestral ensembles than with one another. The central piece mediates between these, the quintet (still a unit) interacting with the orchestra in a manner closer to the traditional concerto. In all three pieces a wide variety of extended sounds is sought from almost every instrumental department; every musician on stage is a soloist. PH © 2012