for flute, clarinet, harmonica, double bass, and piano
Two Songs. Anne, Germaine, Seamus, Koen, Danya is part of a series of pieces under the name of songs I have been working on for the past few years. In the series, I explore the possibilities of making and experiencing time through attentive listening and the interaction of musicians.
In this piece, I focused on creating a dialogue between two measures of time, both built around the materiality of making a sound. In the first song, the temporal organisation grows out of the durations of decaying sounds of the piano and double bass. In the second, the wind players’ breathing becomes the larger-scale measure of time, coming into a dialogue with the decaying sounds.
We learned to share one breath among the ensemble and use the resonance of our instruments to amplify each other’s sounds. Listening to the room’s resonance also played a role in the piece’s unfolding. I composed this piece in close collaboration with the participating musicians: Anne, Germaine, Seamus, and Koen. Their artistry and personalities shaped the way the piece sounds.
Danya Pilchen 