related works
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Genre:
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Subgenre:
Violin
Scoring:
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Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
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Scoring:
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Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
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Chamber music
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composition
Postnuclear Winterscenario No. 15 : for two pianos / JacobTV - Jacob Ter Veldhuis
Other authors:
Veldhuis, Jacob ter
(Composer)
Description:
On January 23 1991, shortly after the Gulf War broke out, I felt speechless and unable to compose. In the media, meteorologists predicted apocalyptical consequences for the climate and the environment, similar to the effects of a nuclear war. In the New York Times they called it a ‘postnuclear winterscenario’.
I then decided to express my speechlessness in music. In just a few hours time, Postnuclear Winterscenario for solo piano was written, probably the most simple score I ever wrote. All musical material was reduced to a minimum. The 'melody' consists of one single note, an E, that is repeated endlessly. The harmonic accompaniment consists of only four different notes: B, A, G, F#.
There are no rhythmical, melodical or harmonical developments. The main way of expression is in the repetition and the delivery.
Postnuclear Winterscenario No.1 - as we call it now - was performed numerous times worldwide by Kees Wieringa, even in Iraq, on the ruins of Babylon. Soon musicians asked me to arrange the work for their instruments and so I wrote versions for string quartet (my string quartet no.2), for choir, for percussion, for one and two electric guitars, for saxophone quartet, for string orchestra and finally in 2005 for symphony orchestra. Each scenario is a bit different, but they all have the same mood in common: speechlessness about war and devastation.