FourTune (2006)
10 minutes
for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Harp, Viola, Double Bass and Percussion
Commissioned for the 2006 Bodytorque Program, in collaboration with The Australian Ballet and the Australian National Music Camp Composition program.
The work was developed with choreographer Paul Knobloch, and premiered by the Sonic Art Ensemble together with dancers from the Australian Ballet, at Sydney Theatre, June 2006, conducted by Nicolette Fraillon.
10 minutes
for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Harp, Viola, Double Bass and Percussion
Commissioned for the 2006 Bodytorque Program, in collaboration with The Australian Ballet and the Australian National Music Camp Composition program.
The work was developed with choreographer Paul Knobloch, and premiered by the Sonic Art Ensemble together with dancers from the Australian Ballet, at Sydney Theatre, June 2006, conducted by Nicolette Fraillon.
FourTune was composed in collaboration with choreographer Paul Knobloch. It is a non-narrative driven, vibrant, lyrical and light-hearted exploration of different versions of ‘four’, and combines the choreographer’s love of classical music and dance, with the composers desire to focus on the percussive elements of the given ensemble.
When set the task of writing a ten-minute piece for dance, I decided the work should be rhythmically decisive, and use an easy to listen to, everyday musical language. The ensemble we were to write for- flute, clarinet, viola, double bass, piano, harp and percussion- held a few challenges. During the composition process, I found myself leaning more and more on the percussive elements of the given ensemble- pizzicato strings, various percussion instruments, and the inherent percussive nature of the piano and harp. Throughout much of the piece, I juxtaposed this percussive, rhythmically driven ‘background’ with a melodically driven
‘foreground’, voiced predominantly in the flute and clarinet. By developing various melodic themes with contrasting rhythmic backing and tempos, I created a single movement work which contains a number of smaller sections, thus enabling Paul to choreograph different combinations of dancers and steps to each individual segment.
Despite my original impetus of focussing of rhythms, it was the melodic sense of the work that most inspired Paul (and indeed attracted him to my music in the first place!) We combined this focus on melody with my original concept, a cyclic theme of ascending and descending fourths heard on the clarinet, and came up with the title of the work- FourTune.
Anne Cawrse (2006)
When set the task of writing a ten-minute piece for dance, I decided the work should be rhythmically decisive, and use an easy to listen to, everyday musical language. The ensemble we were to write for- flute, clarinet, viola, double bass, piano, harp and percussion- held a few challenges. During the composition process, I found myself leaning more and more on the percussive elements of the given ensemble- pizzicato strings, various percussion instruments, and the inherent percussive nature of the piano and harp. Throughout much of the piece, I juxtaposed this percussive, rhythmically driven ‘background’ with a melodically driven
‘foreground’, voiced predominantly in the flute and clarinet. By developing various melodic themes with contrasting rhythmic backing and tempos, I created a single movement work which contains a number of smaller sections, thus enabling Paul to choreograph different combinations of dancers and steps to each individual segment.
Despite my original impetus of focussing of rhythms, it was the melodic sense of the work that most inspired Paul (and indeed attracted him to my music in the first place!) We combined this focus on melody with my original concept, a cyclic theme of ascending and descending fourths heard on the clarinet, and came up with the title of the work- FourTune.
Anne Cawrse (2006)