Output details

Nicholas Givotovsky

Commissioned for [rout]’s “Lost and Found” project, this piece was performed at University of York 17.02.12, Audiograft Oxford 01.03.12 and Kings Place London 15.07.12 and written in memory of my friend Nicholas Givotovsky. The research imperatives develop out of the researchers on-going engagement with; i) the role of repetition and pattern in relation to perceptions of continuity and time-span in this case within the context of structural and temporal brevity, ii) uses of “found” material, iii) slowing of pared down musical materials and the impact of this on the listening experience, iv) use of unison writing, v) open scores – chance and formality.

The name “Nicholas Givotovsky” is used as source material in two ways in this piece i) rhythmic and pitch materials are drawn from musical cyphers generated from the letters constituting Nicholas Givotovsky ii) musical shapes (rhythm and pitch) are drawn from a focused listening-in to recordings of my friends name being spoken – the sound of these spoken words being transcribed onto and imitated by the instruments.

Texturally the pared down nature of the musical material attempts to create an intimate focus for the listener’s ear on the detail of each single note. The work consists of a sequence of musical panels, varying in duration, separated by silences, with an overall slowing of tempo toward the centre of the piece. A series of inter-related brief musical statements are cut short as a metaphor for the early death of my friend. The work explores instrumental unison writing and textures and is notated only as a set of mainly unsynchronised parts - there is no full score. Each performance is thus recognisably similar but details differ each time just as in life each day is much the same, daily routine - but each moment of every day is unique and unrepeatable.