Surfacing
General Info
Year of Published: 2016
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 00:07:20
Cost: $50.00
Instrumentation
Player 1: Crotales
Player 2: Glockenspiel
Player 3: Vibraphone 1
Player 4: Vibraphone 2
Player 5: Marimba 1
Player 6: Marimba 2
Player 7: Marimba 3 & Djembe
Player 8: Marimba 4
Player 9: Piano
Player 10: Rainstick & Spring Coil & Swish Knocker & Bongos & Tam-Tam
Player 11: Woodblock (High) & Ocean Drum & Bass Drum & China Cymbal & Bell Tree & Garden Weasel
Player 12: Woodblock (Medium) & Ocean Drum & China Cymbal & Ribbon Crasher
Player 13: Woodblock (Low) & Concert Bass Drum & Echo Chimes & Tam-Tam
Program Notes
Surfacing (2015) begins with a tumultuous introduction where several emerging pitch centers eventually coalesce into a three-note descending bassline. The bassline then fragments into different voices and occurs at multiple rates of speed on top of a relentless sixteenth note keyboard ostinato. During a more tranquil middle section, the descending bassline is gradually repurposed as the foundation of an ascending chord progression. After a short recapitulation and long delayed harmonic resolution, the dust settles and the piece concludes with a piano-led epilogue. In the end of the piece the ascending chord progression is all that remains, accompanied only by a few musical artifacts from the introduction. Surfacing was commissioned by Bret Hughes and the Park City (Utah) Educational Foundation. The piece is dedicated with love and gratitude to my daughter Ariadne.
Works for Percussion by this Composer
Amorphous Solid
Apocalyptic Etude
Archipelagos
Ascends the Sky
Disarchitecture
Doors
Escape Velocity
Innerludes
Liminality - Percussion 12
Pyroclastic Steam
Skylight
Slide
Surfacing
The Persistence of Memory
Tilted Spheres