w17205
| Title | Twenty-one Times Around |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 2007 |
| Duration (mins) | 10 |
| Category | instrumental keyboard solo |
| Instrumentation | Pf |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | For Fern Bartley |
| Programme Note | These 21 tiny pieces are in honour of the fact that later this month Fern Barley will have achieved 21 circuits of the Sun. Going all the way around the Sun takes about a year, by the way, and it's been quite a marathon, but apparently she's not taking a break and continues presumably in the hope of achieving a world record, eventually. Although there's none of Fern's beloved baroque music here, it's represented by the little trill figure first heard right at the start and recurring in many of the pieces. Fern herself is represented by the phrase F-B, which is first hinted at in the 3rd piece and makes a more definite appearance in the 5th. A less well defined stepwise descending theme creeps into the second half of the 2nd piece and the 10th piece, and provides the whole content of numbers 17 and 18. These three themes occur singly and together throughout the set of pieces. All three are combined in the final piece, but with the descending figure inverted. Together, the set can be considered as a set of variations on 3 themes, an example of triple variation form. Number 20, whose harmonies link with some of its surroundings, is the only piece in which none of the themes is explicitly stated. A unifying device, in addition to the loose variation form alluded to, is an ascending scale of 21 notes which determine the key, or at least the fundamental note, of each of the 21 pieces. this ascending series, which can be found more or less justs by looking at the firs bass note of each of the pieces, is as follows, starting 2 octaves below middle C : C D E F G A B C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db D Eb E F Fsharp I have not sought to unduly embarrass Fern by including any biographical element in the music; the most that can be said is that perhaps it tends to become more sophisticated as it progresses. The style is very varied and the influence of masters like Stravinsky and Messiaen is explicitly acknowledged in certain pieces. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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