'Cryptonomica' - A depiction of myth in music
Cryptonomica is an ongoing collection of pieces for medium ensemble focussing on the representation of various mythological creatures through contemporary music. By design, the collection is intended to be performable in any order and with as many or few movements as one might want to programme.
Composing for this ensemble, alongside my interests in spatial composition, has led to many issues which are currently being worked on with the hopes of a resolution. As an example, with an ensemble of this size, the auditory phenomenon created by utilising the physical placement of the performers has sometimes resulted in stagnant sounding music; the effects quickly become boring. I overcame this setback in my recent piece for Clarinet Quintet by changing the layout of the performers in each movement but unfortunately that does not bode so well with an ensemble of this size.
The given layout of the ensemble has a trumpet and trombone on each side of the performance space which can, if used correctly, create some very effective spatial effects. The same problem returns however; how can I use this layout to keep the auditory effects interesting? One approach that I have tried is to not actually utilise the whole ensemble for most of the works. Having this focus on smaller parts of the whole ensemble has opened up pathways to explore the relationships between specific sets of instruments. For example, in Doppelgänger, I have focussed primarily on the relationship between the four brass instruments spaced out across opposite ends of the performance space and the rest of the supporting music is just that; supporting music. The primary auditory focus is the brass instruments and this is made clear from the start of the movement.
I have ended up avoiding making this piece primarily spatial and instead focussed on the localisation of sound as a secondary factor from within the ensemble and how these static positions can be used to create points of auditory interest.
A selection of pieces from Cryptonomica will be used as the final submission of my MA in Composition.