Music archive entry



Composer:
Paul Burnell
Title:
Tricorder (Three Oboes Dancing)
Instrumentation:
3 oboes, or alternatively, flexible group of treble instruments, with optional percussion and tape.
Duration:
7 or 14 minutes
Difficulty:
Harder
Technical Issues:
Players can transpose at octave if part goes beyond range. Fast tempo. Difficult to maintain ensemble although percussion does help with this. Minimalist style.
Programme note:
The biggest influences on this piece were: a) a multitrack tape recorder, and b) my laziness. I wanted to produce a fairly long and rhythmically interesting piece using as little manuscript paper as possible. So, I developed a series of short phrases or 'riffs' and experimented with them by overdubbing them on a multi-track tape recorder. The resulting piece fits on to 3 pages of A4. The piece was originally intended as a piece for 3 oboes with optional percussion. Later, the introduction of a drone implied that the piece might be suitable for a larger mixed ensemble, and it began to sound a little like Steve Reich's Six Pianos - a piece which I admire. First performed by Pipers 3, at the Penny Theatre, Canterbury, Nov 1998.
Availability:
from the composer



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This page created on
29th March 2001