| Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 19 movements |
|---|---|
| Composition Year | 2019 |
| Genre Categories | Duets; For 2 treble instruments; Scores with open instrumentation; For 2 players |
Contents |
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Complete Score
*#607922 - 0.86MB, 11 pp. - (-) - !N/!N/!N - 109×⇩ - Gwendolynstaheli
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Gwendolynstaheli (2020/2/1)
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| Work Title | Beuger Duos |
|---|---|
| Alternative. Title | |
| Composer | Staheli, Gwendolyn |
| Opus/Catalogue NumberOp./Cat. No. | Op.21 |
| I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | IGS 19 |
| Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 19 movements |
| Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. | 2019 |
| First Publication. | 2019 |
| Average DurationAvg. Duration | 2 hours 42 minutes |
| Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Modern |
| Piece Style | Modern |
| Instrumentation | 2 instrumentalists, vocalists, or ensemble |
Based not on any musical material by Antoine Beuger, but my own Renaissance Counterpoint Exercises from 2004. The following is from the work's introduction:
The starting point for performing this work is the series of pieces written by Antoine Beuger for a set number of instrumentalists: Dedekind Duos, Cantor Quartets, Ockeghem Octets, etc. They are also based off of my Renaissance counterpoint exercises written for a class taken in 2004. The first seven of these duets are performed in a similar style to the Beuger works: quiet and long held notes whose stopping and starting points are determined by the performer. And per convention, quarter-tones or any other microtones within a space of a half-step are allowed for each written note. While silence is a large part of Beuger’s works, I envision movements with more continuous sound, although final decisions are conventionally left up to the performer.
Starting with duet #8, the performance changes slightly from this setup. For duets 8-15, the first performer with notes begins, and the second comes in some time later. While each performer’s rhythm and tempo should stay constant with each other, the notes need not line up exactly. Each measure is repeated several times before moving onto the next one. The tempo is very slow. (For duets 12, 14, & 15, the performers should start more or less at the same time, or close to it.)
Duets 16 & 17 feature a call and response pattern whose rhythm must be adhered to. The second performer starts, and the first comes in later in that same bar. The rhythm remains the same for the entire duet, and both players should stop at the completion of the same measure. However, the decision on when to change notes is up to the performer. The tempo is almost twice as fast as the previous duets.
Duets 18 & 19 are mixed modes. Duet 18 starts together as a call and response, but changes after the first two measures to patterns similar to duets 8-15 (and thus do not need to end at the same time). Duet 19’s first bar is likewise started at the same time and played together as written (holding whole notes for a long time similar to the first 7 duets), before moving onto similar patterns as found in duets 8-15 again (although measure two should start together).
As in the spirit of Beuger’s work, many performance decisions are left up to the performer, including instrumentation, dynamics (quiet preferred), playing techniques, and overall length. My own (certainly not definitive) realization lasts over two and a half hours, although the length might vary considerably in either direction. Considering this length, the decision on how many duets to perform must also be left to the performer. This freedom is given in the spirit of the works. The score therefore essentially stands as a blueprint whose final realization must be made by the performers.
