related works
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
2man 4vl 2vla 2vc
Concerto per orchestra : (1960) / Berend Giltay
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3222 4330 timp perc cel xyl hp str
Tryptique : (1939) / Louis Toebosch
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4331 timp perc pf str
Symphonie no. 1 : 1917 / Willem Pijper
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3243 4321 timp 7perc 2hp pf(cel) str
composition
Metamorphosis : for orchestra / Kim Bowman
Other authors:
Bowman, Kim
(Composer)
Description:
The writing of Metamorphosis for orchestra started off as an editing process of an old piece, written twenty years ago, using a composing application on the computer. Twenty years is a long time and the world and I had changed. Accordingly I saw the old piece disappear instead of being reworked and metamorphose into a new identity. It was like painting over an old canvas. Fresh music was written on top of the old. But undoubtedly some of the old had transferred into the new. And like the shell of a Cicada nymph that is left behind as a witness of the metamorphosis into its next stage in life and new form, the old piece is still hidden in the memory of the computer. Hypothetically by clicking ‘undo’ for every entry made to write the new piece, the old piece would eventually, after thousands of ‘undo’s’ re-appear from underneath.
Another analogy of this work process: Imagine a mountain range that is flooded until only the highest peaks remain above the water. That last bit of material that protrudes from the water becomes the new building blocks that I start expanding and multiplying into new structures.
"If" for soprano, violin, cello and orchestra written in 2016 has become a pivotal piece in my oeuvre in that it breaks with my previous hectic, recalcitrant style and dense scoring. It is much more a contemplative and smoothly flowing piece. Somehow Metamorphosis has revealed itself as a result of merging both styles of writing, but clearly is a much more aerodynamic piece than anything I have written before "If".