Fast on the heels of last week’s Symphony concert which featured only one piece, Crippled Symmetry by the composer Morton Feldman, we’re already talking with Symphony staff about the particulars for the next symphony concert on April 23rd which features four pieces:

BERIO: Sequenza V for trombone

LIGETI: Sonata for Solo Viola

BERIO: Sequenza VIII for violin

LIGETI: Poème symphonique

I think the most exciting piece will be the final work of the evening, György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique. This piece calls for 100 wind-up metronomes (which the Symphony is now in the process of trying to locate - apparently not an easy task in today’s high-tech age). I spoke with Eric Gaston from the Symphony on Friday and he called to my attention a YouTube video where the metronomes for this piece were all started with a machine. Check it out here.

Instead of using this fancy machine we are going to be using ten people who will be responsible for starting ten metronomes a piece. The goal will be to start each metronome as quickly as possible so that the least amount of time exists between when the first object is started and the last. Eric has given us at the Pulitzer the task of figuring out how to best present these metronomes for the concert. We will be taking into consideration that the setup needs to easily allow the winders (my own technical name for the people who will start the metronomes) access to each object and that they will be waiting in the wings during the other three performances. Maybe we’ll think of a really creative setup that involves different podiums of different heights interspersed around the room or maybe we’ll just setup an 8ft table and call it a day. Feel free to give us your suggestions.

I think my reasons for liking this piece the most out of the four is due its association - at least in my mind - with concepts that were explored in the visual arts. The glorification/transformation of the musical aid brings to mind Marcel Duchamp’s readymade objects.

Okay, despite this work being my obvious pre-concert favorite, there are merits and exciting elements to all of the pieces playing on April 23rd - but I think I’ll wait till a time closer to the concert to figure them all out. ‘Til then!