Pierre-Henri Wicomb
Spelling and Sounds
Duration: 8'
Solos:
violin
Spelling and Sounds
Work introduction
The work was a commission from the violinist Lieva Starker. The title refers to words that sound the same, but are spelt differently. This ties in with the musical philosophical basis from which the piece draws, confronting ideas of music and its ontology. I overheard a conversation, a few years ago, between a musicologist and a composer arguing about the quintessence of music, contesting its most elementary manifestations, its origin. The question they asked was, “in its most basic state, is music born out of the presence of one or two notes?” Is a note sufficient, or does it need tension/movement, which is the result of contrast, dictating two notes, two levels, anything two… or can contrast be found in an event? The idea of a single note representing music became an important motif in this work. I notated a sound on one string played in combination with another, but as interruptions (or contextualisation) creating tension within a sound.