Audio Sample
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Performance by Amanda Chominsky, Simon Docking from the CD Instrumental works |
Non-Commercial
This item is not commercially available from the Australian Music Centre. We regret that we cannot offer it for sale.
CD
Instrumental works : live performance recordings, 1986-1999 / Elliott Gyger.
Library shelf no. CD 1522 [Available for loan]
Score
Lush : for piccolo and piano / by Elliott Gyger.
Library shelf no. 788.33/GYG 1 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Although there are large numbers of excellent flautists around, the majority of whom also play piccolo to some extent, there is virtually no repertoire for the instrument. It is only in the last few decades that contemporary virtuosi have begun to emancipate the piccolo (as well as the other extra woodwind) from its limited status as a resource of added colour and brilliance in the orchestra, and to establish it as an expressive voice in its own right. There is now a modest body of music for unaccompanied piccolo solo; however, there is still almost nothing in the way of recital vehicles with piano accompaniment.
One of the central concerns of Lush is a conscious exploration of the various possibilities of the piccolo-piano combination, particularly in the area of register. The piece opens with both instruments in the bottom octave of the piccolo's range, while later passages contrast high piccolo with the piano's very lowest notes, and there are even points where the piccolo is the bass of the texture, with the piano above! Aside from these considerations, the biggest challenge in writing Lush was trying to make the piece justify its title (which preceded composition). In many ways, the music casts the piccolo against type: the warm, delicate low register is featured, rather than the shrill upper notes; the articulation is legato throughout and there is even a substantial amount of sustained, expressive playing. Structurally, the piece is quite straightforward, consisting simply of two statements of an extended melody. The first statement, prolonged, fragmented and ornamented in various ways, makes up the first three-quarters of the piece; the second, by contrast, is direct and unadorned, providing the key to the work in a tranquil coda.
Work Details
Year: 1993
Instrumentation: Piccolo, piano.
Duration: 8 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
First performance: by Amanda Chominsky, Simon Docking — 10 Nov 99. Joseph Post Auditorium, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Performances of this work
10 Nov 99: Joseph Post Auditorium, Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Featuring Amanda Chominsky, Simon Docking.
4 Dec 93: Old Darlington School, University of Sydney. Featuring Amanda Chominsky, Simon Docking.
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