{"id":51,"date":"2013-03-04T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T21:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/?page_id=51"},"modified":"2024-11-13T11:48:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T19:48:38","slug":"opus-36-dust","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/opus-36-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"Opus 36 &#8211; Dust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dust, Op. 36<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Date of composition<\/strong>: 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Duration (approx.)<\/strong>: 13 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Instrumentation<\/strong>: Mixed Sextet (Flute, Horn, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, and Celesta)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Performed by Rianna Cohen, flute; Caitlin Brody, horn; Wyatt True, violin; Andrew Stiefel, viola; Alexander LaFollett, violoncello; Evan C. Paul, celesta; Jacob Walls, conductor. Aasen-Hull Hall at the University of Oregon. Eugene, Oregon. March 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-soundcloud wp-block-embed-soundcloud wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dust, Op. 36, for flute, horn, strings, and celesta by alexlafollett\" width=\"750\" height=\"450\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1036317712&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;maxwidth=750\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Program Notes<\/strong>:<br>Dust is designed as a musical essay in absurdity. It is scored for the very unusual ensemble of flute, horn, violin, viola, violoncello and celesta, a grouping that provided some rather unique possibilities in terms of timbre and musical character. It is cast in three movements: a Prelude, a deformed Waltz (\u201cFalse triste\u201d), and a Barcarolle. The importance of the number three also plays in other ways. Triple-meter ideas dominate the piece, and often clash with duple and quadruple-meter ideas, either through interruption (e.g. 2\/4 or 4\/4 bars interloping into predominantly 3\/4 meter ideas) or interpolation (e.g. three eighth-notes against two dotted eighth-notes\u2014a sesquialtera).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The title works on a couple of levels. The piece deals with traditional formal structures on a much more conscious (rather than intrinsic and subconscious) basis than in most of my music\u2014-the \u201cdust\u201d is being brushed off these forms, if you will, giving the piece a somewhat neo-classical flavor. The third movement even goes as far as to use something resembling sonata-allegro form. Additionally, I feel there is some sort of strangely nostalgic (\u201cdusty\u201d?) air about this piece, brought on by the rather strange timbral balance. To an extent, it sounds like a long lost Stravinsky ballet from the late-1910s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Prelude is initially quite stormy in nature, with the initial tempo and character (paradoxically) qualified as \u201cStill, uneasy\u201d\u2014one of many rather peculiar expressive markings I used in the score. I composed this movement first, and initially gave it the rather unwieldy working title, \u201cDancing Naked Man Wearing Wooden Mask Near Traffic Signal\u201d, inspired by a rather strange sight encountered on a late-night motorscooter ride up Eugene\u2019s Coburg Road a few years ago. The opening is marked by thick, strident harmonies, punctuating episodes of bizarre counterpoint. There is a brief reprieve from this storm about halfway through, in the form of a peculiar, rustic dance, inundated with interlocking string pizzicati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second movement is labeled \u201cFalse triste\u201d, a (rather horrible) bilingual pun on Valse triste (French, \u201csad waltz\u201d), the well-known Jean Sibelius piano composition (later orchestrated). The \u201cfalse\u201d refers to the fact that traditional triple-meter waltz feel is repeatedly interrupted by \u201cwrong meters\u201d, and coupled with the rather odd polymodal chromaticism in the initial theme\u2019s harmonization, there is a sense of a sort of stately \u201cfake sadness\u201d in a \u201cPetrushkan\u201d way. I composed this movement in a sudden flash of inspiration after completing the two outer movements, over the course of two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third movement is labeled as a \u201cBarcarolle\u201d, and like many pieces carrying that title, is in 6\/8 meter and features lyrical lines evocative of Venetian gondolier song. However, any gondolier who would sing this would probably have to be insane, or a fellow Milhaud enthusiast (possibly both), as the lyricism is plagued by polytonality. The end of the \u201cexposition\u201d and start of the \u201cdevelopment\u201d section of the alleged sonata-allegro form here is punctuated by a gesture that is marked in the score as being \u201csneeze-like\u201d (with the celesta part being marked \u201cnaively, as if nothing happened\u201d). Much as with Gray Egg Music, Dust\u2019s \u201cBarcarolle\u201d has an \u201canti-ending\u201d\u2014the reprise of the second theme in the \u201crecapitulation\u201d spirals out of control and awkwardly disintegrates, and strangely cadences on G.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dust, Op. 36 Details Date of composition: 2011 Duration (approx.): 13 minutes Instrumentation: Mixed Sextet (Flute, Horn, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, and Celesta) Audio Performed by Rianna Cohen, flute; Caitlin Brody, horn; Wyatt True, violin; Andrew Stiefel, viola; Alexander LaFollett, violoncello; Evan C. Paul, celesta; Jacob Walls, conductor. Aasen-Hull Hall at the University of Oregon. Eugene, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/opus-36-dust\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-51","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","nodate","item-wrap"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3lh4o-P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5129,"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51\/revisions\/5129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexanderlafollett.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}