Multivalentis for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano (2006)
Duration: 7’30”
The title is a neologism created from two Latin words: multi- (multiple), valentis (having a value). Therefore putting these words together means simply "having (simultaneously) many values". It is about some game with rhythm and/or tempos planes, which are presented simultaneously. The latter can be easily observed looking into notes. In many fragments we have concurrent coexistence of two tempos, which are in relations expressed by a simple numerical ratio (3:2, 3:4, 4:5). There are also more complex relationships in the rhythms themselves. They are written in such a way that with a certain accent, the same rhythmic pattern can be perceived as quaternary (at the score tempo) or as trinary. But then our hearing is changing and we hear it 3:2 times faster than the score tempo. An illusion is created, as if the tempo has changed, whilst it does not occur, it is only an apparent impression, what is more, it is also subjective and possible for each listener to perceive individually at different moments. I applied this technique for the first time in the earlier piece Diversicorium, and the “vary-times" in the symphonic piece Heterochronia.
Commissioned by ZAiKS the Polish Society of Authors and Composers.
CD:
Chamber Works, DUX, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Szymon Bywalec – conductor
Young Composers in Tribute to Fryderyk Chopin, DUX, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Szymon Bywalec – conductor
List of performances:
2006
8 December
Warsaw (PL), Ujazdów Castle, XIV Audio Art Festival
Pablostrom Ensemble
Multivalentis
