Score: Prism
For basset clarinet in A and piano [2008]
Duration: c.7 mins.
Commissioned by Mark Simpson with funds provided by the Rushworth Trust.
Notes:
Prism attempts to explore the concept of ‘dispersion’ in a musical framework. As in optics, where a prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectrum of colours, this work similarly explores the combinations, interactions and eventual dispersion of groups of pitches.
The material is constructed from four pitch sets (one from the harmonic series and three derived from compressing the original harmonic series through different spectral distortions). At the outset, this material shifts rapidly from one combination to another, dispersing and separating as the work progresses to eventually reveal their individual colour.
Prism was commissioned by Mark Simpson with funds provided by the Rushworth Trust. The premiere was given by Mark, accompanied by David Horne, at the Assembly Rooms, Bath, as part of the Bath International Music Festival on the 2nd June 2008. Prism was shortlisted for the solo/duo category in the British Composers Awards 2009 in association with BBC Radio 3.
© Patrick Nunn 2009
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