Oboe, Piano, Percussion, 1997

Performed by Nieuw Ensemble (1998), Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (1997), and at Konzerthaus Wien (1999). 

Percussion instruments include crash cymbal, 2 cymbals (large and small), thai gong, triangle, 5 almglocken [ F#3, A#3, B3, F4, E5], 5 tom-toms (roto-toms may substitute the lowest two), 2 bongos, vibraphone, and 3 gong sounding instruments of different pitch.

Program Notes:

When dealing with three different instruments such as the oboe, piano, and percussion, I find it most rewarding to liberate each instrument from the limits the other two instruments puts on it.  In beginning to explain how these three different instruments relate to one another in FmlrSmblNcs, I’d like to quote two quite different artists.

According to Alfred Hitchcock, every element in his films was always formally presented one of two ways, either as SUSPENSE - the anticipation of something to happen - or SURPIRSE - the unprepared introduction of a ‘foreign’ element into the context.  I’ve interpreted this into a musical context as a way of expanding/presenting all the materials presented by each instrument. 

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of Family Resemblance’s deals with the simultaneous coexistence of both extreme similarities and noticeable differences between two or more complex things (in his case, the facial resemblances between family members).  In my composition, the sonic character of each instrument, as well as the music I write for each instrument, is treated in a similar way. 

This piece is my first attempt at this new way of working, which lead me to develop, what I call, the “simultaneous linearities” of The Veins of Marble, and “simultaneous narratives” in other works (Cosmicomics, etc).