i en eller annen Oase (string orchestra: 4,4,3,2,1)
- Submitting institution
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University of Durham
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 102107
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- “in some or other Oasis” (English translation) was commissioned by Telemark Chamber Orchestra, premiered at the Conglomerat Festival (Oslo 23.08.14), and recorded for CD release (Fabra, 2016). Sonically the piece explores a series of fragments from Norwegian fiddle melodies, which are to varying degrees exposed to processes of rhythmical and timbral manipulation. The aim of the research was to create a complex textural fabric that would gradually move from unpitched brush-like sounds to harmonics; moreover, the micro-constitution of the musical fabric would vary between performances, while the macro-framework would remain the same. Using works by Cage (“Music for”) and Stockhausen (“Stimmung”) as a starting point, Egan devised a semi-open model of temporal notation that would ensure that the piece would take a defined course through the material, whilst being flexible on a micro-level: each performer has a series of musical fragments which they play only once during the piece with open periods of silence in between. They must space the material out relatively evenly across the full duration of the work and follow the order of the material on the page loosely from left to right. As a result, the piece always follows the same path, regardless of the ordering of the individual events. Having conducted a survey of all published traditional Norwegian fiddles tunes, Egan extracted a series of common, quasi-archetypal musical gestures and traits that are used to construct all the material in the piece. After extensive experimentation with the performers, first in groups of 5, then with the full orchestra, he devised a series of processes of distortion (vertical bowing, light finger pressure, etc.) that, when applied to the original gestures, produced drastically different sonic results. As a result, the structural framework of the piece is strengthened by the gradual revelation and transformation of the borrowed material.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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