La Chaux-de-Fonds Variations, for horn, tenor voice, piano, and drum set/percussion
by Kim Scharnberg
$41
PROGRAM NOTES
La Chaux-de-Fonds Variations (2007) by Kim Scharnberg
The Swiss watchmaking industry was established in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the early 18th century. The town’s website shows a carillon there that is a beautiful work of art, an interesting musical sculpture, and includes a “sound clip” of the instrument. I transcribed the carillon’s melody and wrote twenty-four variations on that theme for horn, tenor, and piano. Just as time during a day can seem to go backward or up-side-down, each variation is a brief journey for the performers. - Kim Scharnberg, May 2007
Returning to this piece after several years I thought it'd be fun to update it and add a drum set/percussion part to enhance some of the more modern 'groove' (aka 'time') elements that are a part of most of my music. - Kim Scharnberg, January 2019
PERFORMANCE NOTES
La Chaux-de-Fonds Variations was written for my brother Bill and premiered at the 2007 International Horn Symposium. It is an eclectic and cinematic blend of many different styles and genres representing the music I love. The performers need to move, sometimes abruptly, between these. A strong internal rhythmic pulse is paramount in each part, often independent of the others. Each of the twenty-four variations consists of changes of colors, textures and moods (using non-twelve tone serial techniques based on the original carillon 'tone row') to illustrate the passage of time throughout one day. Each part can be open to interpretation — especially the new drum and percussion part where the written notes are just a guide to a more improvisatory feel. Most importantly, this piece is supposed to be FUN as well as entertaining to the audience! -Kim
La Chaux-de-Fonds Variations (2007) by Kim Scharnberg
The Swiss watchmaking industry was established in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the early 18th century. The town’s website shows a carillon there that is a beautiful work of art, an interesting musical sculpture, and includes a “sound clip” of the instrument. I transcribed the carillon’s melody and wrote twenty-four variations on that theme for horn, tenor, and piano. Just as time during a day can seem to go backward or up-side-down, each variation is a brief journey for the performers. - Kim Scharnberg, May 2007
Returning to this piece after several years I thought it'd be fun to update it and add a drum set/percussion part to enhance some of the more modern 'groove' (aka 'time') elements that are a part of most of my music. - Kim Scharnberg, January 2019
PERFORMANCE NOTES
La Chaux-de-Fonds Variations was written for my brother Bill and premiered at the 2007 International Horn Symposium. It is an eclectic and cinematic blend of many different styles and genres representing the music I love. The performers need to move, sometimes abruptly, between these. A strong internal rhythmic pulse is paramount in each part, often independent of the others. Each of the twenty-four variations consists of changes of colors, textures and moods (using non-twelve tone serial techniques based on the original carillon 'tone row') to illustrate the passage of time throughout one day. Each part can be open to interpretation — especially the new drum and percussion part where the written notes are just a guide to a more improvisatory feel. Most importantly, this piece is supposed to be FUN as well as entertaining to the audience! -Kim
At the moment, we only have a midi demo for you to listen to. Click on the file below for an .mp3 version of the synth demo.
| la_chaux-de-fonds_ruff_demo.mp3 |