JacobTV - Postnuclear Winterscenario No.1 - Kees Wieringa

Video from the 2CD+DVD-box 'Rainbow', available at:
http://www.bastamusic.com
More info at:
http://www.dofoundation.com
http://www.jacobterveldhuis.com

Postnuclear Winterscenario No.1 for piano was written in 1991 for Kees Wieringa. On January 23 1991, shortly after the Gulf War broke out, I felt speechless and unable to compose.
In the media, meteorologists predicted
apocalyptical consequences for the climate
and the environment, similar to the effects of a nuclear war. They called it a postnuclear winterscenario.
I decided to express my speechlessness
in music. In only a few hours time Postnuclear Winterscenario No.1, for solo piano,was written. It is probably the most simple music I have ever written. All musical material was reduced to a minimum. The 'melody' consists of one single note, an E, that is repeated endlessly. The harmonic accompaniment consists of only four different notes: B, A, G, F#.
There are no real rhythmical, melodical or harmonical developments in Postnuclear Winterscenario. The main method of expression is in the repetition and the delivery. No.1 was performed numerous times worldwide by Kees Wieringa, even in Iraq, on the ruins of Babylon. Soon musicians asked me to arrange other 'scenarios', based on the first one, and so I wrote variations for string quartet, for choir, for percussion, for one and two electric guitars, for saxophone quartet and finally in 2005 for symphony orchestra. Each scenario is different, but each shares the same mood: speechlessness about war and devastation.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• JacobTV
• Reich
• Glass
• piano
• war
• peace
• postnuclear
• minimal

[terryregnar]

Beautiful , reminds of late Liszt works, like Nuages Gris