Andrew Schultz: Silk Canons

Abstract

Silk Canons is a single movement piece based on a brief duet for two sopranos, bass clarinet, vibraphone and double bass. The duet, called Silk, was a setting of an anonymous Chinese poem: When you sat in your dark chair Ripe with fat fruits of yellow and red silk Alive with blue lithe animals. Pressing your scented rose-ended Peach-coloured feet against my face, I was humiliated, as you desired. The original duet was only four minutes long; in building on the original material, Silk Canons adds a lot of new music and elaborates the idea of interwoven duet lines over a repetitive harmony. The ensemble of two flutes, two bass clarinets, piano and vibraphone is used in a series of episodic duets and full instrumental refrains. The harmonic structure and melodic possibilities of the original are also greatly expanded by the continuous counterpoint between the equal voice parts. Show more