Tshikona (Organ Symphony) (2018)
for midi-controlled Huygens-Fokker 31-tone organ with or without soloist
Dedicated to Christina Viola Oorebeek
Commissioned by Huygens-Fokker Foundation
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score BDE in preparation
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 9 minutes
CD Recording
Recorded "Live" (2018) on ‘Ghosts: Electroacoustic Music by Michael Blake’ (MBED005) Forthcoming
Première
First performance: November 2018; Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Programme note
The Venda reedpipe dance (from Limpopo, the most northerly province of South Africa), can involve over 100 players each blowing a single reed pipe. With dancing and drumming, a performance may last anything up to an hour or longer. Tshikona (Organ Symphony) is a portrait of the Venda reedpipe dance, translated through the model of the French organ symphony – a short, one-movement symphony in this case, and simulated using a hypothetical African-tuned heptatonic scale, made possible by the microtonal Huygens-Fokker organ. There is also reference to mechanical fairground organs, and the drums are simulated by microtonal clusters for the pedals, a notion borrowed from Charles Ives. It is dedicated to Christina Viola Oorebeek and lasts around 9 minutes.
for midi-controlled Huygens-Fokker 31-tone organ with or without soloist
Dedicated to Christina Viola Oorebeek
Commissioned by Huygens-Fokker Foundation
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score BDE in preparation
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 9 minutes
CD Recording
Recorded "Live" (2018) on ‘Ghosts: Electroacoustic Music by Michael Blake’ (MBED005) Forthcoming
Première
First performance: November 2018; Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Programme note
The Venda reedpipe dance (from Limpopo, the most northerly province of South Africa), can involve over 100 players each blowing a single reed pipe. With dancing and drumming, a performance may last anything up to an hour or longer. Tshikona (Organ Symphony) is a portrait of the Venda reedpipe dance, translated through the model of the French organ symphony – a short, one-movement symphony in this case, and simulated using a hypothetical African-tuned heptatonic scale, made possible by the microtonal Huygens-Fokker organ. There is also reference to mechanical fairground organs, and the drums are simulated by microtonal clusters for the pedals, a notion borrowed from Charles Ives. It is dedicated to Christina Viola Oorebeek and lasts around 9 minutes.
