w16952
| Title | Splitting the Capsule |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 2007 |
| Duration (mins) | 7 |
| Category | instrumental keyboard solo |
| Instrumentation | Pf |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | |
| Programme Note | The diagram reproduced [above] is an exact representation of the structure of "Splitting the Capsule" and is what I used as a guide throughout its composition. I sketched the 4 drawings as the idea for the piece came into my mind. The fact that they look a bit like biological speciments - caterpillers perhaps - is coioncidental rather than part of a carefully worked out plan, but in fact the title and the concept of the piece do refer directly to biology. As far as I know, a common theme in plant growth and animal embryo development is that structures are split by other structures growing out from within them. Whether or not I'm entirely correct in this assumption, it's what happens throughout the piece anyway. There is no thematic structure in the piece which is not split apart by another structure, that structure in turn being split by yet another one. Underneath each of the first 3 objects in the diagram, looking a bit like the caterpiller's tiny legs, inverted Vs (^) indicate the points at which structures are split in order to produce the next object in the series. The first 3 sections start after the double bars at bar 1, bar 27 and bar 54. In the last and longest section (from bar 84) an integrative process is added which, by using the theme of the opening of the piece, tries to give the whole a sense of unity - another reflection of the forces of nature at work perhaps. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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