Compositions

• Main Author: Pack, Bradshaw
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8193

The thesis consists of five distinct and unrelated compositions which were composed over a two year residency at the UBC School of Music. The compositions were either requested or commissioned by the performers involved, and were performed at various venues within the city of Vancouver. The compositions appear here in the order in which they were written. Without the Fear of Wind or Vertigo This composition is a brief four minute work written for the Vancouver New Music- Ensemble which consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and contrabass. This piece was to be included with other compositions of similar length as part of the Vancouver New Music Societies twenty-fifth Anniversary Concert, which was held on November 10, 1996. I approached this work as an opportunity to include as much rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic activity as possible into the brief time span allotted to me by the concert's program. Upon reflection the rhythmic vigor of Stravinsky, the heterophonic orchestrations of Franco Donatoni, and the influences of jazz music all seeped their way into this work. The title is the name of a chapter from Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveler. the earth for you a Standing place This is a composition commissioned by the Standing Wave Ensemble which consists at the time of clarinet, percussion, piano, and cello. In relation to my other works this piece was composed very quickly, seemingly generating itself from intuition, and not from artifice or any grand design. This work has been released on compact disc by the Standing Wave Ensemble. La fille a levre d'orange For soprano, viola, and harp, this work is an attempt to portray the disconnected, vague, and arcane images that are so characteristic of Arthur Rimbaud's prose poems, particularly those of Illuminations. I must admit to having been drawn to Rimbaud not through any particular poem of his, but through his now famous utterance that poetry is the "ecstatic exploration of the unconscious." This struck me at the time as reflecting my own thoughts concerning the creative process. These Things Never Happened, But Are Always This work is for solo percussion. It was commissioned by Salvadore Ferreras, and was premiered at the Second Annual Vancouver International New Music Festival, June 5, 1998. The title is from the Greek writer Salostious, and it serves as a beautiful assessment of myth. The music, divided into two halves— the first concerning itself with drums, and the second with pitched instruments— is aimed at bringing to mind some of the fundamental archetypes inherent within basic mythic structures. Bella Tenebrosita tre movimento spettacoli continuomente For solo piano, all three movements utilize the broad bandwidth of pitch that the piano so conveniently provides. The title of this work played a large role in helping to determine the music; 'bella' of course, means beautiful, but in this instance it also is the name of a young Polish girl killed by the Nazis, who remains a powerful and ubiquitous presence in the life of her brother Jakob, the protagonist in Anne Michael's Fugitive-Pieces. 'Tenebrism' or 'tenebroso,' meaning in the "dark manner" comes to me via the chiaroscuro techniques of Carravaggio.