related works

The overwhelming blankness of the ultimate meaninglessness of tragedy : for 2 ensembles, soprano and actor, 1995-1996 / words: Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, Amnesty International, Edward Top

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Vocal ensemble (2-12) and large ensemble
Scoring: sopr recit 1111 1110 perc vibr hp pf 2vl vla vc cb

Labyrinth : for oboe and percussion / Robert Groslot

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: ob perc

Possible Places 3 : harp and accordion solos, flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, cello, double bass / Dmitri Kourliandski

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: hp acc fl-b cl-b cfg trb vc db

Music for Figureheads : for violin and bass clarinet / Roderik de Man

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

composition

The stillpoint : for violin and vibraphone, opus 4, 1994/1995 / Edward Top

Other authors:
Top, Edward (Composer)
Contains:
In the silent croaking night
As the world turns
A pattern of timeless moments
The point of intersection of the timeless with time
Description:
Program note (English): The basic idea of this work is that two instruments are playing the same melodic material, sometimes in unison, but most of the time put together in asymmetrical rhythms. The piece has four movements, each of them with a subtitle. The first movement (in the silent croacking night) has a ‘mysterioso’ character. It consists of a melody, based on a six-tone mode, which is played several times in different tempos. The second movement (as the world turns) is more or less a unisonmelody that increases in tempo step by step. Little banal quotes taken from the massmedia are unrecognisably integrated in the modal sound. Through an ascending whole tone scale the third movement (a pattern of timeless moments), where this scale plays an important role, is reached. As indicated in the subtitle, this movement is a melodic pattern consisting of little mosaic-stones with mutually different characteristics; slow or fast, resoluto or mysterioso, unison or just about unison, molto brutale or
adagio desolato. This last germ cell (adagio desolato) will slowly grow to a high, final melody in the fourth movement. The final movement (the point of intersection of the timeless with time) opens with an enormous fortissimo where the vibraphonist lets a glissando ring. From the chromatic field that is sounding, one by one notes are being demped which I call a ‘negative’ melody (instead of a series of played tones set against a silent background (ordinary melody), now there are a series of silenced tones against a background consisting of all tones of the vibraphone ringing).
This point is the climax of the work. It is the pivot on which everything hangs. - EDWARD TOP