OCTET by James Grigsby (excerpt)

OCTET was written in 2002 for an ensemble of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello, and piano. The excerpt presented here is from measures 82 through 144 - the total time of the piece is approx. 36 minutes and consists of nine parts connected by eight interludes. This music has not yet been performed - this recording was done with eight tracks of synthesizer - are there any brave musicians out there? The dual nature of this ensemble (a woodwind quintet plus a piano trio) is also reflected in the organization of musical materials. OCTET uses a system of complementary modes, each pair including all twelve pitches and suggesting polytonal harmonies. These modes are linked with specific types of textures and degrees of density. Each aggregate of modal-pair/texture/density is given a name corresponding to playing cards, which are then combined in various ways and featured in different parts of the piece. The section presented here is "Ace of Diamonds with Magician".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• U
• Totem
• Motor
• Totemist
• Guild
• James
• Grigsby
• polychordal
• avant
• experimental
• piano
• trio
• woodwind
• quintet