Output details

Chelovek: Sonata for bass clarinet and piano in memory of Liubov Popova

This work further investigates the processes involved in constructing asymmetric narratives (String Quartet No.3, 2004, Sonata for Cello and Piano, 2010) the exploration of affective affinities between art forms (/Two Rivers/, 2010) and the embodiment of performative features drawn form a range of stylistic sources (/The Midnight Court/ 2012). Popova's Futurist painting of 1913 (Chelovek+Vosdruh+Prostranstvo {Figure+Air+Space}) is employed as a contemplative object so that various musical elements may be related to figurative detail and replicative/variant processes inferred from the architectural methods apparent in the painting's constructive methods. The central human figure is both product and animator of rhythmic linear vectors, often originating (or suggesting focal points) beyond the edges of the frame, the colour range reflects and combines skin tones with metallic graininess and the landscape suggests industrial vitality. The musical processes and materials are not attempts at translation of the physical nature of the 'object', but experiment with affective parallels. For example, melodic figures may both arise from and dictate the variant course of modular motivic grains and the perspective-creating juxtapositions of vectors find parallels in the intersection of maqam-like evolving metric cycles. The work also experiments with the range of technical and timbral possibilities of the bass-clarinet, incorporating some of the latest multiphonic possibilities researched and indexed by the commissioner, Sarah Watts. These sounds are integrated into the affective narrative of the work besides heightened timbres, performative 'noise' and historically available modes of performance. The relationship with the piano parallels the ambiguities of Popova's work, interweaving contrasting gestural modes with contextualising landscapes, the human form both incorporating its industrial setting and dictating its formation.

The research aspects of the composition are evidenced by this portfolio of material:

*a/ the score; and,

*b/ the audio recording.