Anna Thorvaldsdottir
ENTROPIC ARROWS for ensemble (2019)
Chester Music
This work was commissioned by the New European Ensemble. The World Premiere took place on 7 March 2020 at Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague, The Netherlands. Duration: c. 9 minutes
Instrumentation Flute Bass Clarinet in B Percussion: Large Tam-tam 2 Bass Drums (one medium, one large) Cymbal Piece of soft-sounding wood, such as an ordinary 2x4� wooden object Piece of paper Violin I Violin II Viola Violoncello
Composer’s Note My music is written as an ecosystem of materials that are carried from one performer – or performers – to the next throughout the process of the work. As you play a phrase, harmony, texture or a lyrical line it is being delivered to you, passed on from another performer – performers – for you to carry on until it is delivered to another. All materials continuously grow in and out of each other, growing and transforming throughout the process. When you see a long sustained pitch, think of it as a fragile flower that you need to carry in your hands and walk the distance on a thin rope without dropping it or falling. It is a way of measuring time and noticing the tiny changes that happen as you walk further along the same thin rope. Absolute tranquility with the necessary amount of concentration and determination needed to perform the task. * I have a tendency to write music in rather low dynamics. The lower levels of dynamics (in the area) indicate my wish for an approach to pitches and sound materials with a sense of ease and carefulness rather than merely indicating an audio level. I do not intend for the harmonies to be too quiet but rather projecting a sense of serenity, with determination, and with full presence and depth of the pitches. I would kindly ask that the dynamics be subtly over-emphasized, as appropriate in the progression of the music, and that pitches are carried with a strong sense of depth and projection, even at the dynamic level of . Anna
Performance Notes General The music moves between a collective unity of the performers and individual identities in sounds and harmonies throughout the work. It is asked that the performers find a collective unified sound to perform the various textures and materials in the piece – this applies to, but is not limited to, effects such as attacks on various sounds, sul tasto, sul pont., sounds on air, various levels of bow strokes, textural strokes and bow pressure (much or light bow pressure), distortion sounds, levels of vibrato and dynamics etc. Woodwind Bass clarinet in score is written in the sounding octave. When notes are slurred through an extended period of time, breathe where necessary, not synchronised between performers. An air sound with no pitches sounding, the notehead is placed on the middle line of the staff. Written phrases played on air, resulting in slight changes of colour to the air sound. The airy quality should be more prominent than the pitches. Dynamics on airy notes are relative to the sound of the effect, so they should be aimed at projecting relative to the nuance of the sound rather than in the same dynamic as a pitch with the same dynamics would, without over-emphasising the sound. Flute: key clicks and tongue ram for percussive effect. The upper notehead indicates the key click, the lower note is the sounding pitch/colour effect. Clarinet: key clicks and slap tongue for percussive effect. The upper notehead indicates the key click, the lower note indicates the low percussive slap effect.
Percussion Allow resonance of instruments to continue and do not stop or dampen unless otherwise indicated. Abbreviations l.b.pr. str. b.str. ord. sust. w f.t.
light bow pressure stroke bow stroke ordinary, takes back all effects previously applied, including (but not limited to) sul pont. sustained with fingertips
Staff systems Percussion is written on three-line staves as follows: Large Tam-tam Bass Drum with cymbal and a piece of wood placed on the skin Large Bass Drum
Cymbal and piece of wood placed on skin of bass drum: The cymbal is placed on the skin, so that the edge of the cymbal rests steadily on the skin with the bell/curve facing up. The piece of wood is placed on the skin so that it can be easily performed on. When performed on the cymbal it results in a muted metallic sound or when performed on the piece of wood it results in a wooden sound, both are subtly supported by the low resonance of the drum. When performed on the skin of the bass drum the sound is somewhat muted and distorted by the objects placed on the drum. Indications are written above the staff as follows when performed from the central staff line: C — performed on the cymbal S — performed on the skin of the drum W — performed on the wood object
The second (large) bass drum, written on the bottom line of the staff, is played on the skin of the drum without any objects. Tools 2 Thick-haired wire scrubbing-brushes
2 Large soft bass drum mallets 2 Superball mallets B 2 Hard yarn mallets : Double Bass Bow Techniques Thick-haired wire-scrubbing brush – when indicated, use scrubbing brush to sustain over skin of bass drum or surface of tam-tam in one quick stroke, on shorter notes, or in sustained movements on longer note values. There should not be an attack on the beat but rather the sound should be sustained (by the stroke of the brush against the surface/skin) without an initial attack. This should result in a distorted sound. Sustain over surface of the instrument with hand or mallet. Arhythmic tapping and short textural strokes with fingertips – not with finger nails – on surface of instruments. In measures 64-66 and 74-76 it is indicated to ‘crumple paper with hands on surface of tam-tam in slow sustained movements – with concentration and calmness’. This should result in a slightly distorted sound of the paper as it is moved over the surface of tam-tam. Strings Abbreviations l.b.pr. m.b.pr. ord.b.pr. str. b.str. sl.b.str. c.l. s.p. s.t. ord. sust. w
light bow pressure much bow pressure ordinary bow pressure stroke or string, depending on context bow stroke slow bow stroke col legno sul ponticello sul tasto ordinary, takes back all effects previously applied, including (but not limited to) sul pont. sustained with
Glissando Glissandos should be played throughout the duration of the note value it is written by. For example, , slow glissando that starts at the beginning of the note and glissandos throughout the four beats of the note value. Similar with + , faster glissando (depending on the destination of the following pitch). Bow strokes When notes are slurred through an extended period of time – change bow where necessary. During long sustained notes please change bow as often as necessary, not synchronized; it is not intended for bow strokes to be too slow but rather of the required speed for the tone to be fully carried with depth and fundament. When it is indicated to play with much bow pressure (m.b.pr.) on a (very) slow bow stroke on non-pitched noteheads (such as in m. 5 in vln. II, m. 10 in vln. I, and m. 89 in vla), apply a bit more (than ordinary) bow pressure to the string for a subtle atmospheric sustained distortion through continued movement of the bow. Not so much pressure that the flow of the bow is disturbed or that the sound becomes too aggressive or scratchy, but rather subtly distorted sustained sounds, similar to white noise. Vibrato In lyrical and ‘expressive’ passages please apply vibrato. During glissandos and all harmonics play senza vibrato. In passages where no indications are written for vibrato or senza vibrato it is asked that the strings collectively decide on where to apply vibrato as desired. Noteheads Place left hand (not only one finger) lightly on indicated string, around given pitch area, not on harmonic. Fingers are not to be placed on exact pitches. This produces an un-pitched airy sound. The upper notehead indicates the airy technique, the small notehead below indicates the open string the technique is to be played on. When the airy note head is written with a glissando, slide the hand down the string as indicated. This will produce various harmonic colours in the airy sound as the hand glissandos over the string/s. When airy note heads are indicated in rhythmic patterns and to perform ‘with subtle airy pitch colours’, move fingers and hand up and down the string as indicated, and articulate with fingers ‘on air’ to produce subtle pitch colours to the airy sound. Dynamics on airy notes are relative to the sound of the effect, so they should be aimed at projecting relative to the nuance of the sound rather than in the same dynamic as a pitch would. Much bow pressure performed on muted string, not on a pitch. When written on short note values (sixteenth note or eight note) this should produce a non-pitched percussive attack to the muted string. The short notes on much bow pressure work best when performed close to the frog of the bow. When indicated to play with much bow pressure on a longer sustained note – apply a bit more (than ordinary) bow pressure to the string for a subtle atmospheric sustained distortion sound through continued movement of the bow. Not so much bow pressure that the flow of the bow is disturbed or that the sound becomes too aggressive or too scratchy, but rather subtly distorted sustained sounds, similar to white noise. This is for example present in all strings from measure 1. When these noteheads are indicated with ord., it refers to playing normally on the written effect and merely serves to take back indication of otherwise performing such as with much bow pressure etc. Natural harmonics: played at the position indicated by the diamond notehead on the string indicated by numeral. The small notehead above indicates the sounding pitch. Starting in m. 69 subtle lyrical fragments start to appear on harmonics that are echoed between the strings (at times triggered by the flute) – it is asked that these lyrical fragments on harmonics should be played with a concentrated presence and calm and subtle soloistic qualities. The foreshadowing material for this emerges in m. 61 in the flute and in m. 62 in violin II on ordinary pitches (echoed by vln. I in mm. 64-65), it is also asked that these pitches be performed with full presence and calm. Glissando on harmonics with indication to ‘hold position of hand’ (hold pos. for short): glissando on the indicated string while holding the position of the hand. This results in a ghostly effect of various harmonics as the fingers slide down the string. Cross noteheads indicate playing col legno. Three tremolo lines refer to playing quick tremolo notes but not to rhythmic 32nd notes. When playing on tremolo there should not be an accent on the beats where the pitches change or between measures – the tremolo should be even throughout the passages as they move between pitches and measures.
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