Author: debmin

Mahogany

This piece was inspired by two very different musical sources: that of early 20th century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, and that of early 20th century Cuban bandleader and composer Ignacio Piñeiro. On the surface, these two sources of music seem disparate, but upon closer inspection, one might discover some strange similarities between the two. I was drawn to Martinu’s concept of “vertical space,” as well as to Piñeiro’s notions of rhythm and melody. Mahogany grew out of my love for the cello, and my desire to explore the richly-colored timbre of its voice.

  • Premiered at “Surface Tension” concert, Douglas College Theatre, New Westminster, BC, 27 August 2005.

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Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Theme for Pascale Boinot

Theme for Pascale Boinot was composed for a short film, directed by Cat Mills, which was screened at Empire Granville 7 Cinemas, Vancouver, Canada, on April 28-29th, 2006. The piano part was performed by Heather Harty. The solo piano was meant to evoke something sensual and human– mirroring the dynamics between two lovers/characters in the film. I tried to keep the musical language simple yet elegant– much in the style of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies.

Sheet music is available through Syrinx Press:

www.elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press

 

 

A Cellist on the Skytrain

“A Cellist on the Skytrain” was composed in 2004, while I was an undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University. Being a music student, and a cellist, I would often have to lug my cello to school (on the SFU campus at Burnaby Mountain), a journey which involved two bus connections and a skytrain. I have always been fascinated with the musicality of Vancouver’s skytrains — the audible glissandi, the harmonic overtones, and the rhythmic motion of the trains were all things I could relate to as a string player. The piece is simply a field recording taken of one such journey to school, with a superimposed cello counterpoint.

  • Performed in many locations, including at the Sonic Boom Festival, at the Western Front, Vancouver, 16 March, 2006.

 

[audio:../wp-content/uploads/acellistontheskytrain.mp3|titles=A Cellist on the Skytrain]

 

A Light exists in Spring

This piece takes its text from a poem of the same name by 19th century American poet, Emily Dickinson. It draws upon the ideas of prismic light and colour– light waves, as well as the idea of sound waves, in the form of bell-sounds created by the human voice.

“At a suitable distance, church bells could be powerfully evocative, for the strident noises of their clappers are lost and they are given a legato phrasing which wind currents or water will modulate dynamically… Perhaps no sound benefits more from distance and atmosphere.” -Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, from his book, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (1977).

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“A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period–
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the formula of sound
It passes and we stay–“

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

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Premiered by Phoenix Chamber Choir (directed by Ramona Luengen), at Queens Avenue United Church, New Westminster, B.C., Canada, on April 16, 2005.

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Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Published
Categorised as Choral

They Took Flight

They Took Flight was inspired by the 100-year anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first successful flight. These pioneers of aviation first got their airplane off the ground in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17th, 1903. Although that first historic flight lasted for only 12 seconds, this piece captures the essence of that moment after leaving the ground — the freedom and sense of wonder at being propelled up into the skies.

  • Performed by the Drosera Ensemble at Open Space Gallery, Victoria, 6 March, 2004
  • Performed by Turning Point Ensemble at Sonic Boom Festival, Western Front, Vancouver, 11 March 2005
  • Broadcast on CBC Radio 2- Westcoast Performance Vancouver

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Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Metro Gnomes

  • Commissioned by Ian Hampton for the Langley Community Music School

 

  • Premiered at the University of British Columbia Recital Hall,  22 November, 2004

 

  • Workshopped at the Langley Community Music School, May 2005

 

Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/32256

[audio:../wp-content/uploads/metrognomes.mp3|titles=Metro Gnomes]