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Work


small excesses

for violin and piano

Year:  2018   ·  Duration:  11m

Year:  2018
Duration:  11m

Composer:   Juliet Palmer

Films, Audio & Samples

Sample Score

Sample: pages 4–9 of score

See details ➔
Sample Audio

Sample: 0’00” – 1’00”
from Beer and Watkins | 11 Frames

See details ➔

Borrow/Hire:

To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.

About

small excesses is the name of the I Ching hexagram no. 62: “flying birds leave behind their sound.”

The composition was initially inspired by Catalonian photographer Xavi Bou's images of birds in flight. Bou's innovative technique, “chronophotography”, combines sequential photographs of birds' flight paths, revealing dramatic drawings in the sky. Hundreds of moments of incrementally changing gestures result in a curving sweep across space. In composing this duo I was intrigued by the gestures that a violinist and pianist make to draw sound from their instruments. How does sound take flight? I kept coming back to the title and wondering, what is excessive? What is small? How do those two seemingly contradictory thoughts go together? Am I going too far, or not far enough? And finally, I returned to my childhood, drifting off to sleep as I listened to my father, a fighter pilot, roaring overhead in flight training drills — raucous sound scrawling across the night sky.


Commissioned note

Commissioned by Sara Watkins and Andrew Beer with the support of the Toronto Arts Council


Dedication note

for Sara Watkins and Andrew Beer