Ilachýam

Track Record

• First Performance: Schiermonnikoog (October 8, 2009) by Sanne Hunfeld, violin, Fleur Bouwer, clarinet, Lionel Cottet, violoncello and Hannes Minnaar, piano, within the Internationaal Kamermuziekfestival Schiermonnikoog
• Audio: 
• Video: 

Program Notes

Ilachýam, een compositieopdracht van de Stichting Internationaal Kamermuziekfestival Schiermonnikoog, is gebaseerd op de geluiden van de 4 basiselementen in de natuur: wind, water, land en vuur. Volgens de oude Griekse en Chinese wetenschappen zijn alle stoffen immers te herleiden tot combinaties hiervan in wisselende proporties, wat de alchemisten in de Middeleeuwen dan weer als basis gebruikten voor hun zoektocht naar de fameuze 'steen der wijzen'. Vandaar het idee om deze 4 basisklanken, weergegeven door de 4 verschillende instrumenten van het kwartet, in steeds wisselende combinaties te laten versmelten tot een totaal nieuw geluid ontstaat. Zodat de titel Ilachýam, anagram van het Latijnse woord Alchymia en onomatopee voor het klankverloop van het stuk, als het ware het alchimistische equivalent wordt van Archimedes' Eureka, m.a.w. de toverspreuk die het mysterie mogelijk maakt en tegelijk de vreugdekreet wanneer het ondoorgrondelijke eindelijk ontrafeld is. Of toch lijkt...

Veel luisterplezier.

Notes for the performers

This piece is based on a polymetric system very much like that from Southern India. Each instrument follows its own independent metrics and tempo, coming only together with the other instruments at specific 'heaviness points'. These synchronization points are indicated by the full barlines, which are the only ones to have real metrical value; the dashed barlines are there merely to facilitate playing together and have no metrical meaning at all. Instead, the metrics within each instrument are indicated by the ^ accents, marking the beginning of a new 'bar' for the specific instrument. These 'bars' are moving as independent metrical phrases from and towards the different synchonization points as indicated by the size of the notes: when the notes are getting smaller they are moving away from the metrical 'heaviness point', when they are getting bigger, they are growing towards the next metrical 'heaviness point'.

In short: 'bars' are indicated by ^ and move as independent metrical phrases towards common 'heaviness points', indicated by full barlines; the dashed barlines are there only to facilitate playing together and have no metrical value at all.

Ilachýam can be played in two different versions. The first is as an installation of 4 solo pieces (preferably in open air, as the piece is based on the sounds of wind, water, land and fire), where the musicians are placed on hearing distance from eachother (the sound preferably being carried by the wind); the 4 musicians repeat independently their part as a solo piece during the duration of the installation, and the audience walks freely inbetween them, carried by the sound. The second is as a traditional concert quartet piece on stage.

Research

Ilachýam Een blik in de interne keuken

Specifications

Performance materials

Download the score