E: clipse(d) is a concerto for wind ensemble for Shyen Lee (tenor sax) of the Thailand Philharmonic which premiered at Mahidol University on July 9, 2012 as a part of the Thailand International Composition Festival.
E: clipse is the acoustic culmination for a series I have been composing during the past 3 years for a variety of electronics and live instruments inspired by the aural trajectory of an eclipse. An eclipse is the obscuration of light, an emotional reduction or loss of splendor, status, and/or a reputation that forces us to examine our mortality. Ironically, in this space, magnetism and opposition join – awe and fear combine to create a truly phenomenal example of the interconnectedness of experience. This mirrors out to perception.
Bach’s organ chorale, “Aus Tiefer Not Schrei Ich Zu Dir,” (BWV 687) is a primary building block in E: clipse. All of the material in the piece is directly derived from the chorale. The appropriation of the Bach material gradually becomes more recognizable as the piece progresses, though remnants of the theme are present through out. The harmonic language waivers between minor and phrygian and the most perceptible or “Bach-like” quotations function in a combined scale that gradually becomes more and more chromatic until the piece culminates. Throughout the piece, the featured tenor sax becomes more refracted as the focal point, like a lunar eclipse.
Duration: 10 minutes
Check out the most recent performance at UMKC (October 2014)!
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