Roger Smalley: Ceremony 1 (1986-87)

Abstract

"Ceremony I, for percussion quadet, was composed between September 1986 and April 1987, especially for the Nova Ensemble, to whose members it is dedicated. Since a significant pad of the work's effect lies in not knowing what happens next, my program note will be necessarily brief. The subtitle 'for percussion quadet' is intended to suggest an analogy with more traditional ensembles, for example, a string quartet. To this end there are no large percussion set-ups; in each of the work's six continuously played movements the four pedormers are restricted to different sizes of a single instrument, occasionally two instruments. These are, in order of appearance: 1 - claves; 2 - cuica and referee's whistle; 3 - snare drum; 4 - tam-tam (with a light metal chain resting on the sudace); 5 - bongos; 6 - vibraphone and crotales. The changing positions of the players and the movement of the sounds in space are an integral pad of the musical structure. The title and the ritualistic aspects of the piece have no specific connotations, but are intended to awake personal associations in individual listeners." -- Roger Smalley