w14173
| Title | Commentary on Minimalism |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 2003 |
| Duration (mins) | 17 |
| Category | instrumental |
| Instrumentation | Gu |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | For John Feeley |
| Programme Note | The idea for "Commentary on Minimalism" began some distance from where it ended. First of all I wrote a loud piece for guitar quartet followed by a virtuoso solo guitar "commentary" for John Feeley using similar ideas. Then, through natural contrariness, I wrote a very soft minimalist piece for guitar quartet, expecting that a similar solo "commentary" would again follow as if by magic. While thinking it over, I wrote some other guitar music, including some installation pieces based on the 4 alchemical elements, earth, water, fire and air. The music of the "air" installation led me back to the previous minimalist ideas and suddenly this piece finally appeared about a year later than I expected, fully formed, at its full stretch of over 15 minutes. It's a different kind of virtuoso piece: it requires the player to hypnotise the audience by sustaining a trance-like spell from the first to the last chord. And it's not even specifically a commentary on the preceding guitar quartet piece but, apparently, on the totality of minimalist thought. The structure of the piece is static in the sense of being a complete working out of a single unifying idea, untroubled by any process of change. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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