pr301 Bennachíe:
“Out of crooked
timber....” for accordion orchestra with soloist (2000) Duration:
9’
~Commissioned by Joan Sommers for the UMKC Accordion Orchestra~
I was immediately struck by the phrase from Immanual Kant’s
idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht
(1784): “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight
thing can ever be made.” My hope was (and is) that humanity
pass from its adolescence marked with violence, trauma, and moody
tantrums into a more stable adulthood of diplomacy, compassion,
and kindness. Sound mass becomes a metaphor for the unhewn timber
out of which I try to mill something straight.
In the end, straightness becomes a matter of relativity balanced
between the pessimism of Kant’s view and my hopeless romantic
optimism.
“Out of crooked timber…” is intended to be performed
my an accordion soloist with seven groups of at least three players
each. The seven groups should be distributed throughout the performance
space surrounding the audience to maximize the sound mass quality.
If 21 group players are not available, all performers should be
placed on stage in traditional orchestral setup.
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