Trace Elements
John Fitz Rogers
About this work:
In three movements: I. Air, II. Ground and Shadow, III. Refracted Light. Many if not all concerti are based on some kind of rhetorical relationship between the soloist and the orchestra. Often, this relationship takes the form of dramatic roles: soloist as hero against overwhelming forces, soloist as protagonist or antagonist, soloist and orchestra in dialogue. In fact, the soloist and the orchestra often switch roles or assume different dramatic personae during the course of a concerto. The title "Trace Elements" describes not only the tenuous relationship the piece has to the larger genre, but also the relationship between the soloist's music and the orchestra's. Like other concerti, "Trace Elements" has three movements that follow the traditional fast-slow-fast format. What is less traditional is that the musical rhetoric is somewhat fixed; in each movement the flutist and the ensemble agree on certain things, and agree to disagree on other things. For example, in the first movement, both soloist and orchestra play similar folk-like melodies (akin to a song or "air"), consisting of mostly pentatonic scales. However, though their rhythms are related, the soloist moves through a very different rhythmic landscape than the orchestra, and the two entities seldom meet on their respective journeys. While the orchestra plays solidly in 4/4, the flute meanders in 12/8, and the two frequently clash in matters of pulse and downbeat. A similar situation prevails in the second movement, where the flutist plays in a tempo slightly faster than the rest of the orchestra (a relationship of five eighth notes to the orchestra's four). The title, "Ground and Shadow," refers to the fact that the movement is almost completely (perhaps stubbornly) based on a repeated melodic sequence, or "ground." In the final movement, the rhetorical relationship is reversed. Here the soloist and ensemble agree on tempo and pulse, but infrequently mesh melodically or harmonically. Even though most of the melodic material is again built around pentatonic scales, the soloist moves through a different progression of scales than the orchestra. Though they share the same basic pulse, the flutist begins the movement by playing rhythms based on a 35-note pattern, while the orchestra begins with a 36-note pattern. When the two patterns eventually meet halfway into the movement, the soloist and orchestra switch melodic progressions and rhythmic patterns. The movement ends when the two patterns converge once more in a raucous climax that echoes the opening movement. The work is dedicated to Steven Stucky.
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 00:16:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Chamber Orchestra with Soloist(s)
Instrumentation: ,1 Flute soloist(s), 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 2 Horn in F, 2 Trumpet, 2 Percussion (General), 24 Strings (General)
Instrumentation notes: Percussion requirements: Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Small and Medium Suspended Cymbals, Large Sizzle Cymbal, Small Woodblock, Four Tom-Toms (high to low), Graduated Metal Bar Chimes, Bass Drum,