David. ica. músi. for. Harp

Transcription

1 David Bruce Cajaa de músi ica for Harp RED BALLOON MUSIC M

2 Program Note Caja de música means music box in Spanish. Down the road from where I live in St Albans, England, there is the most extraordinary instrument museum. It s actually called an organ museum but this is a misnomer, as it is full of mechanical musical instruments of all shapes and sizes. Some are huge contraptions, rescued from some derelict Victorian sea-front, with a thousand hammers, saxophones and accordions squeezing and puffing away by themselves; others are smaller scale music boxes, with exquisite bells tinkling away when you open the lid. It s the most fantastic and unexpected treasure-chest of a place, though it is also somehow slightly unnerving at the same time. I have always found something appealing about the music a music box plays. It is true that, like the organ museum, the music can have a slightly macabre quality the ghostly, soul-lessness of machine-made music. But it also invariably has a charming naïve simplicity. For some reason, when Bridget Kibbey asked me to write this piece, the music from the organ museum came into my mind. The harp is certainly capable of creating the kind of toy-like sounds I was thinking of. At the same time, however, a diametrically opposing musical thought came to me. I had not long before come across the wonderful Joropo music from Venezuela, which is usually written for a trio of harp, Cuatro (a guitar-like instrument) and shakers. This music has a totally different approach to using the harp from the coloristic cliches we might associate it with in the Classical tradition. It is raw, vibrant and above all, rhythmic. I knew straight away that this was another aspect of the harp I would want to try to bring to the piece. So the resulting piece, in three movements, is a strange hybrid of these two totally unconnected traditions. There are strong hints of Joropo throughout including a - beats-to-a-bar time signature at the start of all three movements. But there is also something of that music box naiveté here too, though I instruct the performer to let any mechanical motions the music might have take care of themselves and to concentrate on making the three dances as human as possible! DAVID BRUCE duration: ca. 14 minutes commissioned by Concert Artists Guild World premiere: Bridget Kibbey, Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, 28 April 2009

3 5 Harp Tempo di Joropo q=c.184 f for Bridget Caja de música I. David Bruce p cresc. 22 f sfz mf Copyright 2009 by Red Balloon Music

4 2 28 f sfz A f 8 44 p 50 poco a poco cresc. a 'B' 55

5 60 gliss. B ff f 65 p pp p 70 cresc. f p pp ppp

6 4 8 p subito pp p 10 cresc.

7 108 ff 5 11 p C 15 D pp

8 ppp E f subito

9 F gliss. 191

10 gliss. 17

11 Harp Nocturnal, seductive e=96 p II mp

12 G pp 254 H mf 260 all grace notes as fast as possible before the beat 26 I 267

13 271 pp poco rall. rall. J a tempo accel. e=140 mf cresc. f

14 12 00 ff 07 1 ff 18 fff 2 e=100 f

15 accel a K e=120 p 42 45

16 p e=200 Prestissimo ppp

17 60 L Misterioso q=60 pp take time 15 freely 67 6 pp 70 (non trem) (trem) M pp Meno mosso like a clockwork toy 74

18 16 79 poco rall. A tempo e.=c.80 8 p 6 6

19 Harp 91 q=180 Energetico f III

20 N

21 p.d.l.t. normale 451 p O q=q.=

22 P Q 518

23 cresc R sffz p.d.l.t. 559 normale 569 sffz

24 S sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz 587 q= p sfz sfz sfz 595 T q.=

25 U cresc V

26 W X 70 sfz sfz

27 sfz sfz f q=180 Y sfz sfz sfz 745 sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz sfz 749 sfz sfz Z q.=

28 ff AA pedal gliss. ff pedal gliss. 798 BB q=c ff 810

29 Più mosso possibile 825 CC ff 829 DD 8

30 ff ff 851