related works
Xing : for 2 conductors and ensemble / Adam Łukawski
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Large ensemble (12 or more players)
Scoring:
fl/picc ob cl/cl-b fg 2h 2tpt trb tb 4perc hp acc 2vn vla vc db
Alien Autopsy : for ensemble / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Large ensemble (12 or more players)
Scoring:
2fl/picc cl/cl-b sax-a/sax-s sax-bar/sax-s 2h tpt 2trb tb perc pf gtr-e bass-e
Fläka : 1983, revised version 1985 / Klas Torstensson
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Large ensemble (12 or more players)
Scoring:
0020 sax 1110 2perc(pf) 2vl vla vc cb
Canto de trabalho : for wind instruments, double bass and piano / Amilcar Vasques Dias
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Large ensemble (12 or more players)
Scoring:
1000 3sax 1230 pf cb
composition
Xing : for 2 conductors and ensemble / Adam Łukawski
Other authors:
Lukawski, Adam
(Composer)
Description:
In Chinese philosophy, before the beginning of matter, there is just nothingness - such emptiness that for a human being it is not possible to imagine it. From emptiness, borders are created (Xing) to make a form for a perceivable emptiness (Wu). Some of the other meanings of Xing are: "new beginning", "to wake up", "to conduct".
The form of the piece was inspired by the physical string theory in which collisions of gigantic string-shaped structures give birth to the new universes operating with different dimensions and physical rules. In the piece, conductors deciding tempi of separate structures causes their meetings and beginnings of new small soundscapes.
The concept of an idea of connecting different elements to create something new in a secular ritual of logic and rhetoric reminds me of the one from the last novel by Hermann Hesse - The Glass Bead Game. As this concept is very important to me, I decided to translate his poem with the same title into the rhythmical code and further incorporate it into the musical structure as a symbol in the last 90 seconds of music.
Adam Łukawski