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Piece No.2 for Small OrchestraYear: 1985
Composed in 1986, this piece for chamber orchestra begins with an enthusiastic and bright but stumbling march tempo—a more or less steady with piano offbeat accents and staggered fast-tonguing horn, trumpet and wind figures in rhythms that begin to get gradually get slower and slower. Then the music begins to build toward its former energy and sort of half succeeds, then stops. A version of the music returns with the same rhythms slowed down, but orchestrated with a jazzy pizzicato bass (almost a "walking" one but not quite), with wheezy winds above. The winds stop, the bass goes on, and muted chords in two pianos in multiple rhythms replace the winds. This music also ceases, and a coquettish oboe solos, and a bassoon and trombone have a very tenuous duet over very subdued fragments of the bass, muted piano chords, and pizzicato strings. The effect is very droll and charming. Gradually other instruments are added into the pointillistic, hocketing texture. The beginning music gradually tries to reassemble itself by drawing together fragments in multiple tempi. It doesn't succeed in doing that, but does recreate a new body that seems satisfied enough to proceed with a strong ending cadence. A delightful piece and an interesting extension of Nancarrow's rhythmic compositional procedures for player piano.
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