Numbers
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
William Duckworth engaged in an experiment in which he collaborated with an ensemble to create a new work while an audience watched. The result? “Mysterious Numbers.”
“Mysterious Numbers”whose three segments are ‘Dancing, singing,’ ‘Quietly flowing,’ and ‘Always changing, moving ahead’moves us ahead into the last half of the evening. Duckworth says that, before joining a group of performers in a series of workshops, he prepared some templates: 38 scales, 58 primary harmonies, and 15 secondary harmonies, together with some rhythms. Soon he and the performers found common ground and the piece took on a life of its own. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony under Edwin London offers us the results.
We are “Drowning by Numbers,” as we continue with that fun punning theme when Michael Nyman and his band perform his work with these clever movements: ‘Fish beach,’ ‘Wheelbarrow walk,’ and ‘Knowing the ropes.’
Steve Reich’s “Eight Lines” began life with the title Octet, which referred not to the number of instruments but to its eight melodic lines. After revising the initial scoring, Reich renamed the piece. In case you are interested in the numbers on this one, Ransom Wilson is conducting twenty-five (!) members of Solisti New York in his own arrangement of the work.
“Mysterious Numbers”whose three segments are ‘Dancing, singing,’ ‘Quietly flowing,’ and ‘Always changing, moving ahead’moves us ahead into the last half of the evening. Duckworth says that, before joining a group of performers in a series of workshops, he prepared some templates: 38 scales, 58 primary harmonies, and 15 secondary harmonies, together with some rhythms. Soon he and the performers found common ground and the piece took on a life of its own. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony under Edwin London offers us the results.
We are “Drowning by Numbers,” as we continue with that fun punning theme when Michael Nyman and his band perform his work with these clever movements: ‘Fish beach,’ ‘Wheelbarrow walk,’ and ‘Knowing the ropes.’
Steve Reich’s “Eight Lines” began life with the title Octet, which referred not to the number of instruments but to its eight melodic lines. After revising the initial scoring, Reich renamed the piece. In case you are interested in the numbers on this one, Ransom Wilson is conducting twenty-five (!) members of Solisti New York in his own arrangement of the work.
