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- Per Nørgård
Twilight (1979)
- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
Orchestral piece with a solistic percussionist part (congas).
- 3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf.cel/str
- 17 min
Programme Note
For orchestra with solo percussionist, and dancer ad lib.
TWILIGHT was composed 1976-77, commissioned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The premiere was on 18th of March 1977, conducted by Tamás Vetö, to whom the work is dedicated. The revised version was premiered by Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tamás Vetö, with choreography by Dinna Bjørn and danced by her.
The title refers to a sentence from one of the famous books by American anthropologist Carlos Castanedas about his experiences under the tutelage of a Mexican Yaqui shaman named Don Juan Matus whom he met in 1960: “The world is a mysterious place”, Don Juan said, “- especially at twilight” (“Journey to Ixtian”, 1972)
The “double light” in the title of my piece do not refer to a kind of nocturnal music, but directly to the dissolving changes during their gradual overlapping of themes. At the same time the almost vocal principal theme is slowly transformed to a kind of “panoramic tempo”, where each tone, like columns, appears like an independent sounding event – like “hearing” the music through a magnifying glass, bar by bar - still slower.
Rhythmical proportions related to The Golden Mean links the orchestral piece to my Symphony No. 3, 1972-1975 (while the obligate conga-solo part perhaps reflects the Mexican impulse to the work?).
Per Nørgård
TWILIGHT was composed 1976-77, commissioned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The premiere was on 18th of March 1977, conducted by Tamás Vetö, to whom the work is dedicated. The revised version was premiered by Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tamás Vetö, with choreography by Dinna Bjørn and danced by her.
The title refers to a sentence from one of the famous books by American anthropologist Carlos Castanedas about his experiences under the tutelage of a Mexican Yaqui shaman named Don Juan Matus whom he met in 1960: “The world is a mysterious place”, Don Juan said, “- especially at twilight” (“Journey to Ixtian”, 1972)
The “double light” in the title of my piece do not refer to a kind of nocturnal music, but directly to the dissolving changes during their gradual overlapping of themes. At the same time the almost vocal principal theme is slowly transformed to a kind of “panoramic tempo”, where each tone, like columns, appears like an independent sounding event – like “hearing” the music through a magnifying glass, bar by bar - still slower.
Rhythmical proportions related to The Golden Mean links the orchestral piece to my Symphony No. 3, 1972-1975 (while the obligate conga-solo part perhaps reflects the Mexican impulse to the work?).
Per Nørgård
Media
Twilight
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