Mysteries (in memoriam John Cage) (1993)
for four percussionists
African Journal No 16
Commissioned by Chris Brannick for Ensemble Bash
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Playing score BDE 795 in preparation
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: 5'30"
Programme note
Mysteries for four percussionists was a request from Ensemble Bash in 1993 – one of their “carrier bag pieces” for which all the instruments could fit into four carrier bags. Each player has an identical set of instruments. I had started to think about reintroducing counterpoint into my music, I was reading Knut Hamsun’s (Nobel winning) novel ‘Mysteries’, and I was thinking on the fairly recent death of John Cage. It all came together in a short memorial work for four identical sets of smallish untuned percussion instruments and four toy glockenspiels: a four-part canon based on the musical letter names C-A-G-E. These are approximated in the main part of the piece, and spelt out very clearly in the coda.
for four percussionists
African Journal No 16
Commissioned by Chris Brannick for Ensemble Bash
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Playing score BDE 795 in preparation
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: 5'30"
Programme note
Mysteries for four percussionists was a request from Ensemble Bash in 1993 – one of their “carrier bag pieces” for which all the instruments could fit into four carrier bags. Each player has an identical set of instruments. I had started to think about reintroducing counterpoint into my music, I was reading Knut Hamsun’s (Nobel winning) novel ‘Mysteries’, and I was thinking on the fairly recent death of John Cage. It all came together in a short memorial work for four identical sets of smallish untuned percussion instruments and four toy glockenspiels: a four-part canon based on the musical letter names C-A-G-E. These are approximated in the main part of the piece, and spelt out very clearly in the coda.
