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Gwyn
Pritchard: Demise Ironically,
although the piano is nominally a percussion instrument, it is in many respects
fundamentally incompatible with most other percussion instruments (particularly
unpitched ones), unless the percussion is to be used ‘cosmetically’ in
relation to the piano's material - a very unattractive option! The piano's
resonant timbre has, after all, been developed specifically for purposes of
blending, sustaining and projecting pitches and harmonies, and so timbral
considerations necessarily remain subordinate to pitch;
whereas the opposite is true
for unpitched percussion. What
can be ascribed to both of course is rhythm (the commonest solution to the
problem), but pushing that to the front of the musical stage also means
subordinating those essential qualities of pitch on the one hand or timbre on
the other. So
if they are to be brought into close musical proximity both piano and
percussion must relinquish most of their natural identity, and become subsumed
in what little there is that they have in common - again an unpromising option! Initially
this piece set out to examine the inevitable demise of musical materials which
try to exist in the space between these two poles (with electronics serving to
spotlight specific points en route). If,
in the end, it is not exactly about all that then it may be heard as the demise
of an (impossible?) idea - but then (according to the Oxford Dictionary) ‘demise’
doesn't only suggest the death of something - but the handing on of what
remains..... Demise
was commissioned by The Basel Percussion Trio and was first performed by them
with Daniel Cholette (paino) and Alex Buess (electronics) at the Huddersfield
Festival in 1994. |