Cries and Whispers

Gerard BROPHY
Born 1953, Sydney, Australia

Cries and Whispers (1983)

piccolo, bass clarinet, mandolin, guitar, harp, percussion
Commissioned by Het Nieuw Ensemble with the assistance of the Australia Council

As the delightful peculiarity of Het Nieuw Ensemble is the inbuilt `zither´, I felt it obligatory to use the harp, guitar and mandolin as the central core of my ensemble in a conceptual way at least. In fact I feel that not to use this trio would be to ignore the essence of this ensemble's sound. So it was this attack characteristic of the harp-guitar-mandolin trio that determined my further choices of instruments. These choices were piccolo, bass clarinet and percussion, almost exclusively tuned with the exception of the bass drum; more than adequate to fill my articulatory registral and timbral ambitions for the piece.

As with my last two works Breathless for three flutes and piano and Sofre for string quartet, harpsichord, celesta and vibraphone, my compositional approach has been one of `evolution of material´ rather than of development, hence the one-movement form.

Cries and Whispers is dedicated to Joel BONS and was commissioned by Het Nieuw Ensemble with the financial assistance of the Music Board of the Australia Council.

Programme note © Gerard BROPHY