Browsing by Author "Krause, Benjamin Alan"

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    Pathways: for Chamber Orchestra
    (2014-11-21) Krause, Benjamin Alan; Jalbert, Pierre; Gottschalk, Arthur; Bailey, Walter; Fischer-Baum, Simon
    Pathways is scored for two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets in Bflat, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets in C, percussion (two players), harp, piano/celesta, and strings. It presents a progression of primary musical ideas and then explores various "pathways" by which they may be connected. The initial idea is characterized by a rapid ascending arpeggio followed by a gradual, syncopated registral descent punctated throughout the orchestra. This then culminates with a climactic outburst of rapid repeated notes, in turn giving way to a declamatory series of chorale-like harmonies. The following music, characterized by both the ebulliance of a scherzo and the propulsion of a toccata, develops the opening material without ever fully reiterating it. When a sense of recapitulation finally does arrive, the main ideas appear in reverse order, their functions altered. A peaceful coda supplies the harmonic progression "missing" from the recapitulated material and provides a sense of respite and reflection to balance the energy of the preceding music. An experience of the piece may be compared to a walk along a winding, looping path in which one perceives the journey as linear but sees the same objects from different perspectives and in varying sequences. The music moves very quickly but tends to "circle back" on itself. The title "Pathways" also relates to my working process, in which I first constructed and then connected the structural pillars, as well as to a specific voice-leading technique in which melodic lines trace varying paths through two alternating harmonies.