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- Swinging Music
Swinging Music
Swinging Music for clarinet, trombone, cello (or double bass) and piano (1970)
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Warsztat Muzyczny: Edward Borowiak - trombone, Witold Gałązka - cello, Zygmunt Krauze - piano, Czesław Pałkowski - clarinet, „Warsaw Autumn” 1980
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The work was written in 1970 for Zygmunt Krauze’s ensemble “Warsztat Muzyczny” [“Musical Workshop”]. It fully reflects the composer’s unique sense of humour as well as his interest in jazz. Despite the work’s “popular” nature, the composer uses in it very intricate technical measures.
The complexity of this composition is reflected in an analysis prepared by the composer himself for a lecture entitled Klangfarben als Kompositionsmaterial, which he delivered to the participants in his 1976 masterclass in Basel. It is quoted below with just some minor cuts:
The concept and form of the work are quite simple. It consists of 12 sections (from A to N) and is based on a swing-derived ostinato rhythm running through the whole piece:
Swinging Music – basic rhythm pattern
The work starts from ppp, rising gradually to fff (in N) and from this moment on the dynamic intensity decreases until it dies down completely. This can be illustrated by the following formula:
A (11 sections) -------------------------------------> N Coda (12th section)
pppp cresc. fff dim. ppp
The form is dominated by the variation principle, in which there are four, always clearly visible elements:
1. Basic rhythm (Grundrhythmus) (GR)
2. Rhythmic supplement to the ground rhythm (rhytmische Ergänzung) (RE)
3. Rhythmic variation (RV)
4. Solo variation (often in quasi-melodic sense) (SV)
The basic rhythm (GR) sets the pulse for the entire piece and is represented by instruments between segments A and M. In the coda – section N – it is taken over by musicians speaking the phone “cz” [ch] aloud, according to the rhythmic and agogic pattern notated in the score.
The distribution of these four elements in the work can be presented on the following, simplified diagram:
Swinging Music – analytical chart
Tone colours are used as the creative material. There are 40 colours produced over four minutes: 8 by the clarinet, 10 by the trombone, 9 by the cello and 13 by the piano. There is also one vocal colour – “cz” pronounced loudly by musicians. The basic rhythm, which gives the work an ostinato pulse, encompasses 13 different percussion colours (12 instrumental and one vocal) and gives the auditory impression of instrumental colours being able to replace the jazz percussionist. These 13 colours of the basic rhythm are, in order of appearance, as follows:
1. Piano – rubbing the pins with a plastic brush
2. Clarinet – voiceless “h” blown into the instrument after the mouthpiece has been removed.
3. Cello – striking the top of its body with the right hand and the side with the left hand
4. Trombone – voiceless “b”, blowing while gently touching the mouthpiece with the lips
5. Piano – striking the top part of the lid with the fingers
6. Clarinet – without the mouthpiece, striking the body with an open hand
7. Trombone – striking the mouthpiece with an open hand
8. Piano – hitting the strings with an open hand
9. Trombone – blowing into the mouthpiece attached to the instrument at an angle of 30 degrees
10. Cello – hitting the strings with an open hand close to the fingerboard
11. Clarinet – playing the mouthpiece, half-open hand
12. Piano – hitting the black or white keys with an open hand
13. Voice – saying “cz” aloud
As we can see, each colour appears only once and is adapted to that particular stage of dynamic development (ppp-fff). In addition to the basic rhythm (GR), the key element of the work’s form is the solo variation (SV). Its role is that of the melodic element in other works; thus we have here varied, but at the same time imprecisely defined pitches. The colours are adjusted so as to be able to play that role. The solo variation appears during dynamic development of the work 13 times, with the culminating section M having two solo variations (clarinet and trombone) at the same time, which creates a quasi-polyphony. They are always very brief and do not develop; they remain – so to speak – in their embryonic phase in order to make room for another variation. The solo variations are produced with the following colours (again in order of their appearance in the work):
1. Trombone – soundless flutter-tonguing
2. Cello – striking a string in the basic rhythm with a metal rod close to the bridge and playing glissando at the same time
3. Clarinet – soundless flutter-tonguing blown with the mouthpiece removed
4. Cello – the same as in point 2 (section D as an ABA variation)
5. Piano – striking the unwrapped part of the strings with a triangle beater
6. Trombone – playing the mouthpiece put inside a WAWA mute without the internal tube
7. Clarinet – playing the mouthpiece, cupped hand
8. Cello – pizzicato sul tasto (sounding a fourth lower)
9. Cello – pizzicato normale (again ABA with the same colour of the basic rhythm)
10. Piano – playing the keys with the strings muffled by modelling clay
11. Trombone – normal playing, flutter-tonguing, WAWA mute
12. Clarinet – playing by pressing the reed with the teeth, changes of pitch and tone colour by adjusting the pressure of the teeth and the lip position
13. Trombone – playing the mouthpiece placed inside a WAWA mute, changing the pitch and colour and changing the pressure and shape of the lips
In the coda, where there are some colours appearing earlier [...], there are also four new colours in the solo variations: two in the cello (glissando produced by pressing a given string very hard –“scraping” sound effect – as well as glissando produced by unwinding the pin of a given string), one in the piano (glissando produced by using nails on the strings) and one in the trombone (the thumb wrapped in a handkerchief rubs the inside of a moistened mouthpiece attached to the instrument – “creaking” sound effect). Thus there are two types of colours in the solo variations: normal sounds with specific pitches, but not formed (8, 3, 5, 10 etc.) or sounds with indeterminate pitches, improvised through specific actions (6, 12, 13 etc.). The role of the rhythmic supplement (RE) is fully [...] subordinate, so I do not intend to examine it in any great detail [...]
At the end of my analysis I would like to say that Swinging Music is an example of a composition in which the sound material is indeed exclusively based on tone colours.
