Output details

Union Square Dance - for 2 identical orchestras

Union Square Dance was commissioned by the NTR ZaterdagMatinee (Dutch Radio) with support from the Performing Art Fund NL. The first performance was given by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra on 11 April 2009, in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The work has received a further performance by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin on 30 January 2011, as part of the Ultraschall Festival. It was recorded by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Celso Antunes, on 9 June 2011, and released together with the five preceding movements from Uptown|Downtown on CD in May 2012 by the label Challenge Classics (CC72538).

Both the structure and musical material of Union Square Dance are generated by means of a so-called Magic Square. In a grid of 9-by-9, the numbers 1 to 81 are arranged in such a way that the sum of all the rows and columns, and the two diagonals, is the same. Reading the numbers per row, from left to right, the Magic Square generates the horizontal aspect of the composition: time, i.e. rhythm. The columns, read from top to bottom, generate the vertical dimension: pitch and harmonies. In other words, similar to Stockhausen’s principle (‘…How Time Passes…’), the procreation of time and pitch is linked. Moreover, the process that transforms the numbers of the Magic Square into musical parameters is of a primordial nature, and not considered an auxiliary composing tool.

The structure of Union Square Dance is divided into nine consecutive segments, using a single square. By rotating the matrix, ninety degrees at a time, four rhythmic and harmonic variants were conceived: a-b-c-d. First they appear in a ‘leggiero’ character (yin), then in a complementing ‘feroce’ character (yang): a-b-c-d/A-B-C-D. The final section (D) was doubled at the beginning, forming an introduction, resulting in a work that bites itself in the tail.