The Palm at the End of the Mind

I went to the Node Ensemble concert last night--the contemporary music group at Trinity--and Ben told me two weeks for scores, in time to start rehearsals and have a performance the third week of April. So, it's been a solid nine hours today of sitting here in my room. Maybe 2 1/2 hours sketching, an hour wrestling my computer, then a solid five of fleshing it out. So far, up to about three minutes. The instrumentation is: alto sax, violin, guitar, organ, piano, and two recorders.

I tried this thing where I pick six pitch-classes (any Db, any C, etc.) and only use those six pitch-classes for a good chunk of the piece. Lots of rhythmic looping, 5-against-3 and such. Then I switch to another six (gradually, of course) and eventually switch back to the original six. Also, there's a long section where the instruments all just stay on one note and play rhythms. Time falls apart; the measure is destroyed. They players only play the same rhythm (relatively speaking) but at different speeds. The rhythm is: three sixteenth-note triplets, eighth-note rest, two sixteenths, eight-note rest.

Probably about a minute of that right now, but I'd like to extend it to two or three minutes. The best part is when the organ comes blasting in, moving at 1/18th the speed of the recorder, and holds this deafening chord. The second-best part is the instructions to the pianist, in the last section, where while the right hand plays pianissimo the left hand hits the second-to-lowest Gb, Ab, and Bb with his knuckles, preferably wearing huge rings. Well, anyway. You'll just have to fly to Dublin.