Encounters VII

Description

Percussion 1, Percussion 2 — Encounters VII was commissioned by Steve Grimo and Pat Hollenbeck for a series of performances in the Boston area.xa0 Two of the earlier Encounters (III and IV) were, with some humorous intent, structurally derived from certain tenets of war: Strategy, Truce of God (a medieval practice), and Tactics.xa0 In Encounters VII the approach is more personal, being based on various anti-war poems.xa0 Each section of the work, except for the opening, begins by quoting in Morse code the first words of a specific poem, and then goes on to a musical setting.xa0 The Morse code is woven into the musical fabric as a parameter.1st code: “Blessed are the Peacemakers” – Matthew 5:92nd code: “Ah, What a Sound Will Rise” and3rd code: “Is it, O Man, with such Discordant Noises…” – from “The Arsenal of Springfield” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow4th code: “Suffering of this World” – Issa5th code: “The Jewish Conscript: For a Jew that they hung on the Bloody Cross (He also died in vain)” – from “The Jewish Conscript” (1916) by Florence Kiper Frank—William Kraft