Dan Yuhas

CHAMBER WORKS

1111-111-perc.(2) Pno-11111

“This work is about situations of entanglement and unraveling; Lines and colors that form a like of skein of yarn, like the splashed paint in a Jackson Pollock painting, and open wide. As a rule, a process of transition from complexity to clarity and inner understanding takes place in the work. The piece begins with a dense cluster of sounds joined by a similar cluster, whose sounds are slightly lower, thus creating a very dense texture.
Over the course of the work, the textures become denser, and from time to time they are ‘released’ and relax. The expanding and narrowing textures lead into a single, very tense clarinet solo, which gradually becomes more and more calm. A series of chords on the piano are repeated during the work in different durations and with varying tensions. 
The chord chain becomes less and less tense towards the end of the piece, until it disappears.” 

The title of the work alludes to its narrative, as it is presented in the composer’s explanation. It is indeed an abstract drama, which “tells” a multi-stage story of tension and relaxation and does so through the development of several basic elements, first and foremost the cluster of sound that opens with the strings and its melodic dissolution (dispersion) in the rapid pattern played by the flute. Towards the end, a very loud texture develops which is cut off by the soft piano chords, suddenly changing the mood of the piece, creating a feeling of resignation.

The strings try to carry on with the loud texture, in spite of the change, but gradually they give in one by one, until only one instrument keeps playing, still loud, disregarding the surroundings, until everything vanishes with the delicate stroke of the triangle.

Yossi Peles

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