Amérique du Nord - second part of GRAND ATLAS:
représentation du monde universel en sept tableaux musicaux - for symphony orchestra
- Submitting institution
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University of Durham
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 105196
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
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- Year
- 2017
- 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
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- Criminology
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- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
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- Reserve for an output with double weighting
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- Additional information
- Amérique du Nord is the second part of GRAND ATLAS, a cycle in which each of the seven world continents is depicted in an orchestral composition. The work forms an imaginary ‘road movie’ – though without images – a genre that accommodates Rijnvos’ continuing interest in amalgamating various cultural perspectives within a single oeuvre. The core research consisted of exploring the historic development of the symphonic scherzo, alongside collage technique, whilst determining stereotypes of musical expression within these forms, and translating those into a present-day musical language. The initial aim during the research process was to find up to 50 iconic films, each inseparably connected to one of the 50 states of the USA. From a long-list consisting of 29 potential fragments, a final short-list of 19 brief soundtrack segments was selected. These ‘objets trouvés’ or collage snippets, all bearing the intrinsic character of functional music, were transmuted, applying various compositional techniques, and subsequently re-contextualized within a framework fit for the concert stage. With two additional references taken from Varèse’s Amériques, and one from Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, the compositional process resulted in a scherzo, incorporating musical puns, allusions and flashbacks, whose attempt provocatively to eradicate boundaries between detached experimentalism and pop culture constitutes a novel contribution to 21st-century symphonic composition. Arguably the most original aspect of the orchestral work is the fact that the fourth percussionist functions exclusively as a Foley artist, reproducing the non-musical sounds of the selected movie fragments live on stage. Amérique du Nord was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with whom Rijnvos enjoyed a long-term residency in the period 2011-2017. It was premièred by them on 2 February 2017 in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Gustavo Gimeno conducting. In January 2019 the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra released the live recording in their RCO Horizon CD-series.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
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- English abstract
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