2022 · Chamber ensemble · 7 players
Flame in Fury and Fire
Contrasting emotional and musical states move between force, warmth, restraint and a final mechanical pulse.
Perusal
Inside the score
Printed score page 59 shows the closing texture in motion: clipped figures pass among winds, trombone, harp and vibraphone while cello and double bass maintain a quieter, repeated layer. The instruction is ‘No rall.’
- Year
- 2022
- Forces
- Chamber ensemble · 7 players
- Duration
- c. 7′00″
- Instrumentation
- Flute (doubling alto flute and piccolo), B♭ clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), trombone, harp, percussion, cello and double bass
About the work
11 / 30Programme note
Flame in Fury and Fire traces a passage between contrasting emotional and musical states. In the score, those contrasts take audible shape through changes of attack, density, tempo and instrumental colour. Seven players move between tightly coordinated gestures and more exposed sounds: breath and key noise enter alongside pitched lines, plucked and bowed strings interrupt one another, and the percussion part changes the weight of a passage without always dominating it.
The title suggests intensity, but the music gives that intensity several characters. Forceful passages can thin abruptly; warmth can surface without settling the ensemble; quieter episodes retain an underlying restlessness. Near the end, the score turns through dolce and mystérieux markings before reaching the texture shown on page 59. There, the flute, clarinet, trombone, harp and vibraphone exchange compact figures over repeated cello and bass actions. Several parts are marked ‘mechanical’, and the page explicitly asks for no rallentando. The music stays at pace but progressively quietens, evoking machinery gradually losing energy and coming to a stop rather than closing with a broad resolution.
Score & materials
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