JIMMIBUNCH
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the closed circle is pure [for 3 instruments]

the closed circle [score]
Premiered April 1, 2019 [no, really!]
Jimmy Bunch, violin
Rahul Vanamali, marimba
Hrisheek Ganesh, piano

The closed circle is pure is a flexible canon for three players and 1 or more bass instruments [the instrumentation is open to any instruments that can play it].

The title is a reference to the Kurtag piece from the Kafka Fragments ["Der begrentze Kreis ist rein"]. The piece differs in style from Kurtag, but plays also with canonic imitation as a symbol of a certain kind of exclusive purity. Probably somewhere in my mind was all the tribalism and anti-immigrant garbage going on in the US, Europe, India, etc. Kurtag's music [and Kafka's writings] were a kind of warning against all of that.

Harmonically / stylistically it owes more to Andriessen and Reich. But unlike most canons, the meter is constantly shifting [often pairing changing perfect against compound meters, and cross dividing the beat within]. About halfway through the piece, the players shift into a "canon at the unison" that probably comes subconsciously from the fact that I've been listening to a lot more jazz than I ever have, and that my ensemble was working on a concert where all of the piece come from monophonic sources. We were working on the "Dance of Fury for the Seven Trumpets" from Messiaen's Quartet for the end of time.
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  • home
  • about me
  • WORKS / MEDIA
    • text-based scores
    • solo >
      • vinayak variations
      • how to [amost] start a revolution
      • devil's bargain [solo violin version]
      • crisis music [baritone saxophone]
      • book of myths [piano + electronics]
      • punchlines, cliches, pericopes, proverbs, and other old saws
      • in measureless oceans of space [solo piano]
      • windowed forms [solo piano]
    • chamber >
      • the closed circle
      • for want of a nail
      • montgomery songs
      • all the borrowed future before us
      • go lightly [flute + viola]
      • awake|asleep [2 sopranos + piano]
      • chrysanthemums [string quartet]
      • drag [violin + prepared piano]
      • forseen fable [soprano + violin + prepared piano]
      • mackerel sky [saxophone quartet]
      • ocean [baritone voice + piano]
      • ogni suono come un essere vivente [2 alto saxophones]
      • permanent emotions [violin + prepared piano]
      • with more eyes than the stars [amplified toy piano + amplified prepared piano + 2 multi-percussionists]
    • large ensemble >
      • Selling Greenland [Large open ensemble]
      • broken images [chamber orchestra]
      • flowergazers [soprano + 7 players]
      • gravity and grace [orchestra]
      • o unspeakable madness of our age [counter tenor + baritone + 7 players]
    • electronic >
      • EX / INTER / CHANGE
      • in the offing [fixed media version]
      • house of the future
  • BANTER
  • Writings
  • Teaching