Another ensemble work

Here is another sketch for the ensemble section of my PhD compositions. For piano, string quartet, and 2 percussionists. As usual, the demo is rendered with samples but intended for live performance.

It has a lot of my usual staples: lots of isorhythms and some pseudo-metric modulation, etc.

One new thing I’m exploring here is using full chords for melodic movement over a relatively stable bassline. In rock & metal, guitarists have often used power chords (open 5ths) to play melodies, without the underlying harmony needing to move. In this piece I’m using both triads and open 5th chords in that sort of way.

The piano part at the beginning has triads moving down in thirds diatonically. The resulting harmony is like jazz-chord-style stacking of thirds, but played in this way the colour of the harmonies gradually morph as they go down, becoming more stable as they approach the tonic triad. Also the sustain pedal is left on as the triads move about, which leaves a nice clustery wash.

Bit of work to do on the ending I think… perhaps this is the kind of thing that will become clearer when there are musicians involved.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F12815696Artificial Lines (WiP 31/03/2011) by Chrisperren