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Gold (2001) |
Gold is scored for piano (and 3 gongs) with brass – 3 trumpets i.e. a ‘high’ group and a ‘low’ group consisting of horn, 2 trombones and tuba.
Although a purely abstract piece of music, it does possibly take on some of the qualities of the metal of its title not least in the burnished metallic resonance (and appearance) of both brass instruments and gongs. The gleaming piano writing, particularly chords struck percussively in the upper register, shines through the texture and constant changes in the speed of the pulse in the first half of the work, giving the impression of an object whose many angles catch the light at different times.
Structurally, Gold is a series of paragraphs all built from a specially crafted series of chords the use of which is intended to give coherence to the harmonic colour . In addition to this the music has a tendency to gravitate towards the note ‘C’ – the paragraphs often start here and the work signs off with a soft ‘C’ on one of the three gongs that the pianist has to play in addition to his own instrument. The interval of a major 3 rd features strongly throughout, particularly in the piano part. Sometimes this interval is ‘filled-in’ to produce clusters – sharp and rather acidic sounding when used high on the piano, and percussive and dark when treated in all the instruments’ low registers.
GOLD was commissioned by Philip Mead with funds made available by Thames Valley University and the Huddersfield Festival and is one of a series of works for piano and various brass ensembles that Philip Mead is in the process of commissioning from different composers.
© Diana Burrell, November 2004