Scale (Nostalgia)

Year Composed:
2020

Instrumentation:
sinfonietta (17 player; pic-fl-ob-cl-bsn / 1-1-1 / 2 perc / hp / pf / 1-1-1-1-1)

Duration:
7:30

Award:
2nd Prize–The American Prize in Composition–Instrumental Chamber Music (2023)

Performance:
Younje Cho’s Master Recital, Feb 6 2022, Auer Hall @Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

Lilah Senibaldi, Piccolo; Joowon An, Flute; Joseph McKeever, Clarinet; Quinn Sciarra, Oboe; Lauren Hallonquist, Bassoon; Trevor Zavac, Horn; Nick Thomas, Trumpet; Erich Corfman, Trombone; Yuseok Seol, Piano; Katie Calderwood, Harp; Thomas Frost, Percussion; Cameron Henry, Percussion; You-Xin Li, Violin; Ava Andrew, Violin; Wan-Zhen Xie, Viola; Adrian Golay, Cello; Javier Hernández, Double Bass; Andrew Downs, Conductor.

Program Note
The motivation for this work derived from doubt on what contemporary classical music is. This suspicion stemmed from a feeling of resistance against the kind of music that is often filled with the abuse of special and extended playing techniques music, and that contains difficult rhythms and requires a high level of technique to play - which felt to me unappealing, meaningless at that time - and thus, I ended up being eager to find a genuine meaning of music. This reminded me of the musical material, "Scales", which has been the basis of tonal music, thereby encouraging me to explore it. Scales are the most commonly used materials in all musical genres. I struggled with developing this piece in a contemporary musical language that highlighted the scale without evoking boredom, as it could sound banal and childish. Based merely on the simple material, my piece was created by deriving from various musical factors which play a significant role in completing a musical grace of tonal music, and in the combination of contemporary musical features with them, further makes its own unique features.