Flagello | Droughts and Downpours (bass septet)

for seven double basses

and DownpoursPERUSALSCORE

PERUSALSCORE

Droughts and Downpours

for seven double basses

PERUSALSCORE

Gala Flagello 2024

Program Note

Droughts and Downpours (2024) was commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center and explores the concepts of scarcity and abundance through the sonic depiction of rainfall (or lack thereof). The ensemble evokes doubt, longing, hope, and joy through sound worlds of aridity, mist, drizzle, and deluge; harmonics and pizzicato braid with ostinati and percussive efects in search of "enough." As climate change has made droughts "more frequent, longer, and more severe" (usgs.gov), how can we cherish and care for the world around us?

Droughts and Downpours was commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center with the generous support of the Merwin Gefen M.D. and Norman Solomon M.D. New Commissions Fund. Enormous gratitude to Nicholas Walker, Krista Kopper, Dani Meier, Maggie Ryan, and the University of Michigan Double Bass Studio for their guidance and generosity during the writing of this work.

Instrumentation

Seven double basses

Duration: 8 minutes, 30 seconds

Performance Notes

• The Double Bass 7 part requires a C extension.

• All bowings and harmonics indications (e.g., fngerings, string numbers) are suggestions. Special thanks to Nicholas Walker and Krista Kopper for their time and expertise in helping craft this notation.

• X noteheads indicate "dead notes," where the bassist creates a small percussive efect by stopping the string so that little to no pitch is produced.

• The harmonics patterns featured at Rehearsal B and at the end of this work are inspired by Nicholas Walker's beautiful piece, Paris Skies.

PERUSALSCORE

First printing, 2024

D o u b l e B a s s 1

D o u b l e B a s s 2

D o u b l e B a s s 3

D o u b l e B a s s 4

D o u b l e B a s s 5

D o u b l e B a s s 6

D o u b l e B a s s

PERUSALSCORE

www.justatheorypress.com

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook