collide

2019-21

collide
quartet
Instrumentation: clarinet (Bb/bass clarinet), violin, percussion, piano)
Duration: approximately 21 minutes
Written for: Kwartludium with support from Swedish Arts Grant
Premiere: 13 november 2021 in Växjö with Kwartludium
Score: Buy score at BabelScores!

the form of collide collide is a composite composition form from four separate parts (with different combinations of instrumentation).
  • lectio brevis
  • ἀντί – Ἀνταῖος
  • querschnitt
  • ciemna materia

    • However, they are not played in sequence but are fragmented into sections and distributed through the 21-minute duration of collide in this way: ( = leading role in the part):




    The musical material and its internal development/non-development in the 4 different parts range from a dialectic (in a Hegelian sense) re‐reading of J.S. Bach’s double from Partita No.1 for violin, over detailed notated music with rapid and often extreme quick variations in expression to freely improvised music based on short instructions.

    The title collide, naturally, is descriptive of the collision between the 4 vastly different materials of the components. It’s a variegated weave but with shimmering threads and for me there is something poetical, something deeper, with these types of collisions, and maybe even “failures”.

    The names of the separate parts are all derived from the fragmentary novel Flights (Bieguni) by the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, a novel that was a constant companion composing the piece. This short citation, which is also printed in the score, maybe sums it up:

    Moj zespoł objawow polega na tym, że pociąga
    mnie wszystko, co popsute, niedoskonałe, ułomne, pęknięte.
    Interesują mnie formy byle jakie, pomyłki w dziele tworzenia,
    ślepe zaułki. To, co miało się rozwinąć, ale z jakichś względow
    pozostało niedorozwinięte; albo wręcz przeciwnie — przerosło
    plan. Wszystko, co odstaje od ormy, co jest za małe albo za
    duże, wybujałe łub niepełne, monstrualne i odrażające. Formy,
    ktore nie pilnują symetrii, ktore się multiplikują, przyrastają po
    bokach, ączkują, lub przeciwnie, redukują wielość do jedności.
    Nie interesują mnie wydarzenia powtarzalne, te, nad ktorymi z
    uwagą pochyla się statystyka, te, ktore wszyscy celebrują z
    zadowolonym, familiarnym uśmiechem na twarzach. Moja
    wrażliwość jest teratologiczna, monstrofilalna.

    (My set of symptoms revolves around my being drawn to all things spoiled,
    flawed, defective, broken. I’m interested in whatever shape this may take,
    mistakes in the making of the thing, dead ends. What was supposed to
    develop but for some reason didn’t; or vice versa, what outstretched the
    design. Anything that deviates from the norm, that is too small or too big,
    overgrown or incomplete, monstrous and disgusting. Shapes that don’t heed
    symmetry, that grow exponentially, brim over, bud, or on the contrary, that
    scale back to the single unit. I’m not interested in the patterns so scrutinized
    by statistics that everyone celebrates with a familiar, satisfied smile on their
    faces. My weakness is for teratology and for freaks.)
    Translated into English by Jennifer Croft

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