Night - Woodwinds
The woodwinds are the first section featured and the approach taken here was to build a polyphonic web of lines based around (and including) the main Anthem:
Musical Example No.12
The anthem (antecedent) is found in the flute and bassoon (two octaves apart) and is answered by the consequent in the clarinet four bars later. In between, variations of the anthem provide a polyphonic texture, linking the two together. Double winds (2.2.2.2.) can more simply require 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons. Due to the intended polyphony, however, I wanted to be able to separate the wind colours as much as possible. The doublings chosen, therefore, are: piccolo/flute, oboe/english horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, and bassoon/contra bassoon. As well as providing clearer variation of colour, the piccolo and contra (in particular) provide a wider pitch range up high and down low - both of which are exploited.
Night - Strings
The strings open the piece with harmonics that (along with the percussion) represent outer space. These are subtle effects, however, and the true string section sound does not appear until the lead up to bar 23 (see Ex. No.13), as it does dovetails out of the woodwinds.
Musical Example No.13
The string sound here is mainly arco (bowed) and features a violin solo above the rest of the tutti strings. At the bottom of the texture, the double basses are playing pizzicato, embellishing the bass line of the cellos.
Dawn
- Percussion
- Winds Key Clicks
- Brass Taps
Initially, the most vexing problem in the orchestration was in how to make the percussion section (2 players + timpani) balance against the other three, larger sections. It is true that even a few percussionists can make a great deal of noise, but in order to represent the material I was working with, I decided early on that I would co-opt the other three sections (wind, brass and strings) into the percussion section for the advent of Dawn (bar 41). In the case of the woodwinds, this involved key clicks (see Ex. No.14):
Musical Example No.14
This percussive effect is strongest in the lower winds (bassoons and bass clarinet) since their key pads are larger, whereas the key clicks on the piccolo are very subtle. But since all eight wind players perform this effect in rhythmic unison, the sectional effect is clear.
The brass section plays exactly the same figuration in rhythmic unison with the winds, but instead of key clicks, they tap the bell of their instrument (see Ex. No.15):
Musical Example No.15
The wind key clicks and brass taps together create an effect somewhat like insects scuttling across the ground. This imagery of nature was not intended but perhaps reflects the idea of Dawn and of life on Earth as the sun begins to shine on it.
Dawn - Strings
The strings, meanwhile perform two percussive effects: pizzicato and col legno. The pizzicato is percussive in the same way that a guitar or harp is percussive. The material for this is the Accompanying Motive (already presented in the winds and strings) but this is the first time that it is heard in the 4/4 metre:
Musical Example No.16
The Accompanying Motive starts in the cellos and by bar 47, the whole string section plays it. The slurs marked on the pizzicatos are either left hand 'hammers' or 'pulloffs' a technique more commonly found in guitar writing. Col legno translates literally from the Italian as 'with the wood' and asks the player to hit the string with the wooden back of the bow.
The final layer added to all these percussive effects is the actual percussion section which features temple blocks, roto toms (played on the rim with drum sticks) and timpani played with wooden mallets near the rim (see Ex. No.17)
Musical Example No.17
This creates a loose rhythmic polyphony, central to the 'activity' of Dawn.
Sunset
The brass section performs a number of minor roles in the piece but doesn't come into its own as a featured section until the move back to 12/8 at bar 95, representing sunset (see Ex. No.18):
Musical Example No.18
This excerpt shows the brass in full flight: the horns, trombones and tuba playing the Accompanimental Motive while the trumpets play the Anthem. Reserving the full splendour of the brass section for the return of the slower pulse (12/8) is a technique also employed in similar fashion by Benjamin Britten in The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. It was used in this piece to reflect Vladimir Vasyutin's description:
"the minutes of the evening twilight are fabulous. The hull of the station is lit by the golden rays of the sun. "
The brass choir is gradually joined by the other instruments of the orchestra until a full orchestral tutti is reached in bars 103-106.
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