Watershed, for Two Pianos written for Lauryna Sableviciute and Nicholas Ashton

Hammond, D. (2011) Watershed, for Two Pianos written for Lauryna Sableviciute and Nicholas Ashton. [Compositions] (Unpublished)

Abstract

Watershed continues my work in utilizing models from the natural world to create pieces of music. I have structured the piece around the idea of following two watersheds in Central Kentucky, USA, from their shared point of origin, Sand Knob, to their utter dissipation through the expansive waters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and beyond. Within each section the raw musical material is generated by a single evolving L System that rewrites ordered intervals. The transformation of this material occurs in many stages, which are named in the piece as the various tributaries within the watersheds. These transformations take many forms. Initially, the tempo is accelerated proportionally to emphasize the idea of accumulation and flow. Later the horizontal character of the music collects into vertical "pools" of sonority. The acceleration and pooling ideas come together in IX. North Rolling Fork (rising waters) and X. Salt River (flood). Through composition I am specifically researching methodologies derived from the natural world because I have found that they provide something for my compositional practice that no exclusively human, or cultural derivation can: a true sense of "otherness", of power that is beyond human will. Watershed was premiered by Lauryna Sabliviciute and Nicholas Ashton in Glasgow, UK at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on January 16, 2012.

• Item Type: Compositions
• Status: Unpublished
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hammond, Drew
• Authors: Hammond, D.
• Subjects: M Music and Books on Music > M Music
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Music
• Copyright Holders: Copyright