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it's distance that makes mountains mountains
​for ensemble (2022)

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This piece was commissioned by Tangram, premiered by Tangram artists and Ligeti

Quartet at LSO St. Luke’s on 28th August 2022.

It’s distance that makes mountains mountains.

Looked at closely, they start to resemble me.

Vast panoramas stop people in their tracks and

make them conscious of the engulfing distances.’

Shuntaro Tanikawa

 

There are many definitions and interpretations of silence.

One of them, which we celebrate today on its 70th anniversary, is John Cage's 4’33”.

In the early stages of writing this piece, I kept asking myself if I could show a different

interpretation of silence through music.

I soon realized that silence could not be defined. In the process of exploration and

discussion, has the true sense of silence already been lost? Is silence just a state? Is

silence just another form of sound?

Perhaps, in this piece of music, silence is a moment of perspective shift and

suspension. It is the very moment between inhaling and exhaling, speaking and

listening, moving and motionless, chaos and void.

Silence has both - it is fluid and inconstant.

It’s distance that makes mountains mountains;

it’s silence that makes music music.

The moment of silence is formed when the speaker becomes the listener, when the

performer becomes the audience, when ‘our silence is your silence.’

Performance notes

 

Ensemble

 

Flute

Clarinet in bB

Piano

Percussion

Tam-tam, Bass Drum/Chinese bass drum, 3 Tom-toms (mid-low range), Chinese cymbal, small gong, opera gong,

triangle, tambourine, 3 woodblocks, 1 Chinese low pai gu (low)

2 Violins

Viola

Cello

Double Bass

Staging

Voile fabric screen is required.

Stage should be set up as musicians are performing on the stage (with score stand and seats).

Percussionist and pianist are behind the screen.

The rest of ensemble is behind the audience in outer circle.

 

Lightings are required.

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