in short
Andrea La Rose
About this work:
“in short” was originally a piano piece and was performed as such in December 1999 at The Boston Conservatory. After writing the first movement, I was faced with the task of giving it a title, something I often have difficulty with. To give it a big descriptive name seemed contrived, yet merely “No. 1” was too banal. Ten minutes later, I had resolved to temporarily title it “No. 1” and think up something better later. On my way to press the “1” key, I was inspired to hold down the shift key. “!” was born, and as I congratulated myself on being oh-so-clever, I realized I now was obligated to write nine more piano miniatures. Once the work was finished, it was suggested to me that I orchestrate them. Having just studied Boulez’s “Notation II,” an orchestration of a piano miniature, I was first inspired to create a very thick, busy, expanded version of the piece. Realizing quickly that that style of orchestrating simply did not fit, I looked at Dallapiccola’s “Variazioni,” also an orchestration of piano miniatures. Dallapiccola rarely used more than five instruments (the violin section, for example, being perceived as one “instrument”) at a time, yet the piece never sounded empty. I wrote the piano miniatures with the idea of making the piano sound like more than one instrument. In orchestrating the piece, since I now actually had more than one instrument, the issue was to make sure the timbres I wanted to employ were appropriate for the gestures I had written. The sparser orchestration suited that goal, although there are definitely times for the whole ensemble to speak together. The piece employs a full string section, solo woodwinds and brass, harp, timpani, drum set, and various mallet instruments.
Year composed: 1999
Duration: 00:13:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Chamber Orchestra
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: 1*, 1, 1, 1/1, 1, 1/timp., drum set, mallets, harp, strings