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Alexander Shchetynsky

In Low Voices
for clarinet, violin, 2 violas, double bass and accordion
(1995)

Predominant quiet sound, soft colours, gradual development, slow tempos - all these features determine the meditative nature of the piece. One can listen to sound “events” as if through the mist or the mantle of snow. Contrasts and verges of the form are smoothed out. It is a world of tiny details, almost imperceptible transitions, delicate shades. I try to catch the essence while not looking directly at the object, but by lateral sight...

Three movements of the piece (no break between the first and the second) are built on the common material and actually make up an integral composition in one movement. Pitch technique combines modality and free atonality with serial elements. 12-tone chromatic scale is expanded by quarter-tone alterations. Flexible irregular rhythm may be considered as a sort of “decoded” rubato. The important part is assigned to micropoliphony and timbral technique of “Klangfarbenmelodie”.

The work was written for and dedicated to the HEX Ensemble, Holland, and its artistic director, the composer Jan-Bas Bollen. This ensemble played the premiere at the International Youth Music Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, in May 1995.

Alexander Shchetynsky


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