Etude: 'Orrery': for piano

TY - ADVS

T1 - Etude: 'Orrery'

T2 - for piano

AU - Suckling, Martin Charles

N1 - [published score awaiting upload - will be accessible via the link, and/or link will be updated]

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - [programme note] Models of the movement of celestial bodies have long served as the basis for musical explorations, and vice-versa. The Pythagorean tradition of the Harmony of the Spheres, in which planetary orbits, human emotions and the practice of music are all connected through sounding number is well-known, though I make no claim for the occult efficacy of this little etude! Rather, the orrery – a clockwork model of the solar system demonstrating the changing orbits of planets around the sun – is simply a useful way of visualising the musical situation: a series of more or less imperfect ‘clockwork’ mechanisms rotating harmonies around a central point. Each pitchsatellitehas its own orbital period and the changing rhythmic patterns thus generated result in the emergence of hidden melodies; sometimes the mechanism catches and a particular pattern gets stuck in a loop. The harmonies are all derived from a cipher of the dedicatee’s name: T(e)-A-M(i)- A(sharp)-R(e)-A(flat) – this, along with the mention of ‘hidden melodies’ perhaps suggest occultism is not as far away as I might wish to maintain. . .

AB - [programme note] Models of the movement of celestial bodies have long served as the basis for musical explorations, and vice-versa. The Pythagorean tradition of the Harmony of the Spheres, in which planetary orbits, human emotions and the practice of music are all connected through sounding number is well-known, though I make no claim for the occult efficacy of this little etude! Rather, the orrery – a clockwork model of the solar system demonstrating the changing orbits of planets around the sun – is simply a useful way of visualising the musical situation: a series of more or less imperfect ‘clockwork’ mechanisms rotating harmonies around a central point. Each pitchsatellitehas its own orbital period and the changing rhythmic patterns thus generated result in the emergence of hidden melodies; sometimes the mechanism catches and a particular pattern gets stuck in a loop. The harmonies are all derived from a cipher of the dedicatee’s name: T(e)-A-M(i)- A(sharp)-R(e)-A(flat) – this, along with the mention of ‘hidden melodies’ perhaps suggest occultism is not as far away as I might wish to maintain. . .

M3 - Composition

PB - Faber Music Ltd.

ER -