Chamber Concerto (2022)
For Nine Players and Electronics
Duration: 20 minutes
2perc – pno(dbl kybd).kybd – 2vln.vla.vc.db
First performed by Michael Jones, Rebecca Lloyd-Jones, Shaoai Ashley Zhang, Kyle Adam Blair, Ilana Waniuk, Pauline Ng, Alex Taylor, Peter Ko, and Matthew Kline, Steven Schick conducting, UC San Diego, May 31, 2022
Chamber Concerto is a celebration of instruments and the musicians who play them. Although a certain emphasis is placed on the synthesizers of the ensemble—with their ever-shifting tuning and timbral identities often articulating the work’s form—this is not only a synthesizer concerto: ultimately, everyone has their say and comes to the fore as soloist. And, at the apex of the piece, the paradigm of soloist-versus- tutti is set aside altogether: here, the entire ensemble metaphorically breathes together, as if a single organism.
After having made a series of intensely focused, inward-facing works amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I see Chamber Concerto as a more gregarious type of piece that celebrates the multiplicity of its materials. Aspects of some of my earlier works make appearances here, sometimes in direct quotation, sometimes in more abstract ways.
Chamber Concerto unfolds in a single, continuous movement. Many may wish simply to listen and form their own impressions, but for those interested in a “guided tour” of the form, a rough outline follows:
1. A rhapsodic, microtonal synthesizer solo is joined by an atmospheric ensemble accompaniment. Gentle clouds of spatial audio briefly encircle the audience. The tempo quickens into a quasi-waltz, leading to…
2. A B-flat-minor outburst on the piano—an apparition of Rachmaninoff? Almost as soon as it appears, the music is again microtonally inflected by the synthesizer and winds its way back to the opening texture. Suddenly…
3. A brisk, playful toccata begins. Wooden and skin percussion instruments feature prominently, as do synthesized harpsichord and harp timbres. The toccata eventually topples into…
4. Another fast section, this one more impassioned in character. A hyper-expressive line is passed between the cello and viola, winding its way down in register while being interrupted by fast, aggressive gestures.
5. The ensemble eventually settles into a calmer mode. Spatial audio returns, as does the Rachmaninoff-esque material, now sounding like a faded memory. Up to this point in the piece, the cello’s lowest string (typically a C) has been tuned down to B-flat. This fact is now overtly revealed in a series of gently pulsing B-flat overtone chords. The “apotheosis” of the B-flat string having now been reached, the music progresses to…
6. A dreamlike “tuning interlude.” The ensemble and audience are constantly enveloped by spatialized sound as the cellist tunes the B-flat string back up to C. Immediately following this interlude…
7. The ensemble plays a long, calm meditation on falling perfect fifths. The synthesizers (now generating sine tones) and strings tune harmonies in just intonation. Bowed vibraphones continually outline the fifths cycle. A simple yet expressive viola solo grows out of the texture. Suddenly…
8. The music snaps out of its dream: the fast toccata material returns. After being the sole focus of attention for an extended passage, the toccata becomes something of a formal “hub,” enabling several other ideas from earlier in the piece to be revisited as well. The work concludes in a manner both playful and reflective.
Technical note: Digital elements of this piece are controlled via a computer running a Max 8 patch and Pianoteq software. The Max 8 patch is available from the composer. Cues for the patch are advanced by playing the highest key on the keyboards, as described in the score and parts. Each keyboard should be equipped with a dedicated speaker placed close to the instrument onstage. Additionally, some cues trigger sound files to be diffused throughout the performance space, instead of through the dedicated keyboard speakers. Ideally, there should be a surround sound array of speakers in the performance space for this purpose. At the premiere performance, six speakers (front L&R, side L&R, rear L&R) were used. Versions of the sound files for four speakers (front L&R, rear L&R) are also available. If surround sound is not possible, stereo versions of the files are also available.