Audio Sample
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From the CD Works for orchestra. Vol. 4 |
Score
Retonica : for full orchestra / by Elena Kats-Chernin.
Library shelf no. Q 784.2/KAT 3 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
As I was writing this piece, I became interested in thinking
about the whole notion of tonality. I had spent many years prior
to this doing experimental works and I found that I was being
drawn back to the idea of a tonic, which for me is always 'do' or
C, and also the idea of a tonic as a restorative or re-energizing
element. I wrote the work just before my ensemble piece
Clocks, and in many ways the two works are related: both
contain sections of clock-like mechanistic material. This was one
of the first big pieces I had written to that date, and in some
ways this reassessment of tonality was a great release for me --
it was the first of many works that came like a flood in the
following years. It is also one of the first works where I
reduced all the materials to their barest and simplest form. I
used that distilled point of single focus as a base (or tonic)
over which I re-assembled the work, always mindful to not lose
that simplicity I had worked so hard to gain.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Work Details
Year: 1993
Instrumentation: 3 flutes/piccolo, 3 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (3 players), harp, harpsichord (amplified, doubles celesta), prepared piano, 2 button accordions, strings.
Duration: 13 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Australian Music Centre.. Written for Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but not premiered by them.
First performance: by Sydney Symphony, Edo de Waart — 11 Nov 98. Sydney Town Hall
Performances of this work
11 Nov 98: Sydney Town Hall. Featuring Sydney Symphony, Edo de Waart.
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