Inguz (Fertility)

Liza LIM
Born 1966, Perth, Australia

Inguz (Fertility) (1996)

clarinet in A, violoncello
Commissioned by Radio Bremen for ELISION Ensemble
Published by Ricordi, catalogue 137626

Inguz (fertility) dates from 1996 and follows the genetic line of earlier works Koto and Street of Crocodiles -- in fact, the work draws on an unpublished cello study written in preparation for the latter work. The title refers to the Viking rune symbolising fertility, which is associated with "the moon, intuition and the desire for harmonisation in personal relationships". Inguz is dedicated to the clarinettist Catherine McCORKILL and cellist Chris LOCKHART SMITH on the occasion of the birth of their daughter Arianne.

Inguz is an intimate study of cello and clarinet sonorities. It explores these instruments' conforming and contrasting features amid a narrative of alternating mobility and stasis, the product of the passing congruences and divergences of pitch and rhythm. On some occasions the instruments' timbres are virtually indistinguishable, the one growing out of or intermingling with the other; on others, the contrasts of timbre and register are extreme. Lim conceives of the work as being like the alap of an Indian raga, in which the music functions to tune the instruments and to establish a mood.

Programme note © Malcolm GILLIES