fossilized memories, splintered futures
Fossilized memories, splintered futures explores the tension between two contrasting sonic landscapes: one that drives forward with an anxious and frenetic rhythmic pulse symbolizing the future, and the other that evokes a dreamlike state with a sense of stillness and longing, embodying the past. This composition navigates the delicate equilibrium and inherent friction between these two forces, culminating in a final dramatic clash.
In the piece, I use four pitch sets which change throughout the first section after the completion of each phrase. They are based on polychords consisting of seven or more notes, established by the piano. I explored jazz-inspired polychords which use dominant seventh chords with extensions like #9, leading to scales which had sounds resembling diminished scales. Throughout this, I employ multiple layers of hocketing between instruments, using moments of ensemble unity as a contrast to the linear phrases. Over the arc of the piece, I slowly add sections consisting of long glissandos which foreshadow the middle section and begin to delay the beginning of each new phrase in the piece with a glissando. These sections of slow pitch movement become more and more prominent until the music alternates between the two equally. This occurs until rehearsal letter F, where I pull all instruments to the extremes of their registers, dying off to niente.
From this moment of silence, the tempo slows down to half speed and the violin and viola start with harmonics on their higher strings very delicately, followed by half-air and full air sounds from the winds. The keyclicks and other extended techniques create a gentle texture that builds over time. Pizzicato and slap tongue are also used to contrast the long tones in the texture and reinforce the melody of the opening of the piece. As the arc of the piece continues, pairs of instruments are introduced with lengthened and embellished melodies that echo the first section of the piece. Finally, the last section focuses on contrasting the material in the first and second half, but with frequent disruptions between these contrasting motifs. The alternating lines of music begins with slower memory sections as a segue, and over time there is more dense textures that recall the beginning of the piece. In the final bars of the piece the instruments of this septet come together in unison with a powerful crescendo that reflects the instability and clash of these two forces in our psyche.
Part of my process includes hand notated sketches prior to moving into digital notation systems for quick textural and timbre studies. An example of a second draft is shown below:
