Roger Smalley: Impulses (1986)

Date

1986

Authors

Composer: Roger Smalley

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Canberra School of Music, Australian National University

Abstract

"For many twentieth century composers, returning to an earlier work as the basis for a new composition has been both a fertile source for renewal and a means of creating a sense of continuity. The Italian composer Luciano Berlo is one prominent contemporary composer who has undertaken such reworkings of earlier pieces, particularly in his series of ensemble works Chemins which are based on the solo work series, the Sequenze. Berio has described the process of reworking an existing work as like peeling back the layers of an onion: 'each new layer creates a new, though related surface, and each older layer assumes a new function as soon as it is covered'. Other composers such as Bartok and Ravel have produced various versions of a single work. For example, Ravel's La Valse appeared in 1920 in three versions: one for piano, another for two pianos, and a third for orchestra. Allowing a single conception to take on a number of manifestations is not limited to composers of this century. One need only think of Bach and a work such as the B minor Mass with its borrowings from earlier works to see the validity of this. Smalley's Impulses for flute, trombone, cello, piano, synthesiser and percussion is a 1986 revision of an earlier piece called Pulses. In a program note on the work the composer has commented: Towards the end of last year (1985) I made a thorough revision of my 1969 work Pulses for fifteen brass instruments, five drummers and live electronics for a revival in London. This gave me the impulse to further explore some of the ideas in that work which I had neglected in recent years. I had been thinking about the implications of the unique makeup of the full Flederman sextet for many months, having already tried and failed to write a highly contrapuntal chamber work for it. Now, I decided to explore ideas from Pulses with the Flederman sextet, treating it, basically, as a pair of continually changing trios. To this end the flute and 'cello are amplified to bring them up to the rather high dynamic level of the rest of the ensemble. The basic idea of Pulses is a series of overlapping rhythmic patterns in different tempi with improvised transitions between them. Pulses is generally slow moving and meditative in effect, but in this new piece the same ideas are applied to music of a much more dynamic character. A simple pitch structure, gradually expanding from a unison to an octave, permits concentration on the rhythmic intricacies. As Smalley notes, the handling of pitch is in contrast to the rhythmic organisation of the work. In fact, it is the element of rhythm that most dominates the score. A fair characterisation of Impulses is as a set of rhythmic variations on the initial section. The opening portion of the work (to bar 87) contains a diminishing rhythmic process. The drumner strikes a tuned drum in a series of attacks with shrinking silences interspersed (that is, 11 semiquavers rest, 10 semiquavers, rest, 9 semiquavers rest and so on). When the process reaches its end it is repeated (at bar 25) but with a shorter silence between attacks than the first time. Other instruments are introduced playing fixed pulses, ostinato-Iike, which are contracted for each new process. The overall effect is a dramatic increase in tension through the continually contracting pulses. The technique is employed again in the work and is accompanied by pitch expansions from the unison. A further resource called upon in the work is that of polyagogics; that is, the simultaneous use of two or more tempi. Charles Ives, in works such as The Unanswered Question, pioneered this technique which has become widely used in much aleatoric and electronic music. The use of the technique poses significant problems for the performers (and the composer) in maintaining coordination and in making the presence of differing speeds an audible phenomenon. Smalley frequently employs instrumental groupings from the sextet at differing tempi. The textural result is, inevitably, rich and complex. Another moment of rhythmic density is achieved at bar 175 where the ensemble is instructed freely to distribute given pitches (in a box) on a given rhythm. On this occasion, and in other points in the work, the players are following through individual or group processes of gradual musical change. On the level of sonority, many interesting features are apparent. Dynamics are continually presented in a terraced way. This is a feature that reflects the blocklike formal character of the work. A related feature is the suppression of dynamics to low levels at several moments of intense rhythmic activity. This results in a heightened intensity at later stages of the work. This technique could only be successful so long as the ensemble is evenly matched in terms of range (hence the choice of alto instruments) and in dynamics (thus, amplification is used). The choice of an angklung-Iike timbre for the synthesiser is perhaps a clue to the nature of the work. Features such as patterned rhythms, repeated phrases, terraced dynamics, polyagogics, limited pitch choices (perhaps reminiscent of modes), the sound of the skin drum and the work's static quality suggest the sounds of a Balinese gamelan. Likewise, the notion of a continuously unfolding process is also characteristic of a non-Western aesthetic. Impulses was composed in May 1986, and was commissioned by Flederman with assistance from the Music Board of the Australia Council. It is dedicated to the members of Flederman." -- Andrew Schultz

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Classical Music

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Sound recording

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