related works

Axis (Sandman) : for percussion and string quintet / Lewis Nielson

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: perc 2vn vla 2vc

Gestures : for marimba and bass clarinet, 1981 / Daan Manneke

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: cl-b mar

Musica Dolente : for piano and timpani / Maximiliano Amici

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: pf timp

Seraphic Ride : for nine instruments / Douglas Knehans

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: fl ob cl perc pf hrp vl vla vc

composition

Axis (Sandman) : for percussion and string quintet / Lewis Nielson

Other authors:
Nielson, Lewis (Composer)
Description:
Axis has no overt process that directs its motion but does have a gradually evolving motion toward greater coordination of attack rhythm and sound focus, manifested primarily through stabilization in the percussion on particular instruments for increasing periods of time. A kind of symbiosis exists between strings and percussion (not and NEVER an opposition!) that facilitates, and occasionally redirects, this motion. The sound of the piece does not depend in any way on its pitch content, which was determined solely as a function of timbre. The compositional challenge was to write for strings as if they were multiple percussion set-ups within themselves and arrive at a combinative structure whose progress is directed by rhythm and timbre only. While there is no final performance set-up of the total ensemble that I would consider essential, an arrangement where the strings were somehow to be arrayed around the percussionist would be ideal, providing the performers can see and communicate with each other, that all sounds can be perceived individually, and, if a conductor is used, line of sight to him or her is not impeded. This would be ideal in the version for string orchestra. While I resist programmatic reference to visual imagery, I would find a configuration along the lines of Dante’s Celestial Rose to be ideal.
Lewis Nielson