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Liza Lim THE TAILOR OF TIME

for large ensemble with solo oboe and harp 2023

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Aide à l’écriture du ministère de la Culture et de la DRAC Grand-Est, de l’Ensemble Intercontemporain, du Festival d’Automne à Paris et du Festival Musica Strasbourg.

Commissioned with funding assistance from the French Ministry of Culture and the DRAC Grand-Est, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Festival d’Automne à Paris and the Festival Musica Strasbourg.

Premiere performances:

25 September 2023, Festival Musica Strasbourg

Ensemble Intercontemporain with soloists: oboist Philippe Grauvogel and harpist Valeria Kafelnikov, conducted by Pierre Bleuse

4 November 2023, Festival d’Automne à Paris

Ensemble Intercontemporain with soloists: oboist Philippe Grauvogel and harpist Valeria Kafelnikov, conducted by Enno Poppe

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master processed on 31.07.2023

Sy. 9169/01

ISMN 979-0-2042-9169-4

Bühnen- und Musikverlag GmbH, Berlin

Liza Lim

The Tailor of Time (2023)

for large ensemble with solo oboe and harp

Ensemble of 30 players including solo parts for oboe (doubling bass oboe/ oboe d’amore) and harp

dedicated to Joséphine Markovits

Part 1 [12:30] page 1

Interlude [01:00] page 30

Part 2 [14:30] page 30

INSTRUMENTATION

2 Flutes (1. doubles Piccolo)

2 Oboes: Oboe 1, solo part, doubles on Oboe d’Amore and on Bass Oboe (Bass Oboe can be substituted with other low oboe covering the same range but bass oboe is preferred) Oboe 2 doubles on Cor Anglais

2 Clarinets in Bb

Bass Clarinet in Bb

2 Bassoons (2. doubles Contrabassoon)

2 Horns in F

2 Trumpets in C

2 Trombones

Euphonium

3 Percussion Perc 1: Thai gong (G3): ? & œ played as water gong [use bucket of water]

Large Log Drum with exible metal ruler (weighted at one end to maximise its ‘spring’)

Large/Long Rain Stick

Semantron [long plank of wood, suspended and played as a ‘wooden gong’, ampli cation/EQ is needed to create a deep and sonorous sound]

Perc 2: ‘Impossible Monument’ [made of a mix of percussion instruments and household/kitchen/natural objects, eg: snare drum, several cymbals of different sizes, large heavy metal spring, spring drum, rattles, cups, saucepans, rocks/stones (at least 7 of different size), shells, beans, handfuls of rice, toys etc]

Perc 3: Thai Gong (Eb4): ? & œ

*please see below for instructions for various staging instructions

Large Log Drum with exible metal ruler (weighted at one end to maximise its ‘spring’)

Snare Drum (with super ball)

Ocean Drum

Semantron (as for Perc 1)

Harp: solo part with preparations, also with metal guitar slide (see below)

Piano

Keyboard: gong-like timbre, chromatic with the following notes tuned microtonally; also plays rain sounds

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3 Violins

2 Violas

2 Violoncelli

Double Bass

Ampli cation is needed for the solo harp and for the two semantrons

Electronic keyboard needs local ampli cation

Score is in C

Duration: approximately 28 minutes

NOTES FOR PERFORMANCE

Quartertones

Accidentals apply for the entire bar. However some extra accidentals are added to assist clarity of reading

Nested repeats

Interlaced repeat signs are found in several places, eg: bar 50 where the material in the beats is cut into to create an irregular ‘glitch’ or loop in time. The repeat brackets are numbered to show the order in which the bracketed material is repeated.

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These repeated materials are written out in the performer’s parts, labelled bar 50a , 50b , 50c 50 d ; the changing time signatures are marked in the conductor’s score. This approach is also taken in bars 59–60 divided into bar 59a and 59b

5 24 + 2 4 [ ] + 1 12 , the complete bar 60 is a normal . Bar 61: crescendi that extend across a repeated section apply to the entire passage of repeated material, ie: the dynamic does not ‘reset’ on the repeat.

Percussion

Log drum

Log drum with ‘tongue’ is played with a long exible metal ruler or similar piece of stainless steel (the ruler can be weighted at one end to maximise its ‘springiness’). Percussionist icks one end of the ruler and slides it along the length of the tongue to create a uttering, gliding sound of changing overtones.

Semantron

Semantron – long resonant hardwood plank, suspended and played like a gong. Plank should be long and wide, but not too thick. Example dimensions: 2000mm x 400mm x 20mm. It may be useful to have anchoring lines to the ground as well as suspension points to stop the plank from swinging too much when struck. Ampli cation with reverb and EQ is required in order to create a deep, resonant sound (rather than a louder sound).

Percussion 2 embodies a kind of crazy/absurd/paradoxical/Su -spiritual state and has a number of ‘instruction pieces’ in which activities are described that also result in sounds as the musician moves objects and interacts with them.

1. Impossible Monument (from bar 29)

On a table, hastily stack up an unstable tower of items as high as you can—a mix of percussion instruments, kitchen/everyday items, toys, rocks, shells, beans, rice etc.—things that will make a complex sound when the tower collapses… (space is needed around this construction so that other musicians and their instruments are not hit by falling objects).

– rice grains

– beans

– bell

– rocks/shells

– toy

– wooden block

– metal bowl

– spring drum

– saucepan

– cymbal

– metal spring

– snare drum

2. Tuning a scale (created out of the objects from the ‘Monument’)

Bars 127–138

Move/drag objects around on the table so they are ordered by pitch into a scale, checking relative tuning by striking them (the notated rhythm given is one option; percussionist can also allow the action of carrying out the task to govern the sounding result whilst listening/responding to the other musicians)

‘Interlude’, Letter J (bar 152)

Arrange a pile of 7 rocks/stones into a scale of ascending pitches (strike the stones with a beater to check the tuning, shifting them around until the task is done). The task is done quite quickly in a matter-of-fact way.

*Note: This gesture is based on Peter Ablinger’s work ‘Skalen/Scales’ (1997-2022) from ‘Augmented Studies’ and is quoted with his blessing. See the realisation of his work with stones: https://youtu.be/ZHqBfs_8HQE?t=135

When the rocks/stones are in order, play them as a descending scale (highest to lowest pitch) 10 x.

e.g:

pile of rocks/stones ordered by pitch

3. Flying Objects

Letter T (bar 279)

Suspend objects (percussion instruments, objects, rocks etc) ‘in mid-air’ above head height. Ideally, the percussionist climbs onto the table and hangs the instruments/objects from invisible y wires so it looks like things are magically oating in the air at different heights and out of reach (above head height when the percussionist is back standing at ground level). Sounds are made as objects are moved/dragged around before being hung up. Strike/play objects ad lib. There is also the instruction: ‘throw rice into the air’.

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Harp

The harp part requires ampli cation. This can be quite subtle depending on the hall, however, the nal section in particular, from bar 298 to the end, needs to be ampli ed.

Blu-tak is removed at Letter G.

In Part 1, the following strings are prepared with Blu-tak creating a rich, gong-like timbre: {& ? ?

Later, at Letter T, Blu-tak preparation is again placed on two strings: {& ? ?

The Tailor of Time

(Harp continued)

A guitar slide is inserted between strings (touching both strings simultaneously) and used to create glissandi

The part is notated in several passages as follows:

Stems up indicate plucking of upper string; stems down indicate plucking of lower string (strings affected by the presence of the slide are also marked ‘1’ and ‘2’):

(guitar slide – sounding pitch)

insert guitar slide between strings

* stems up = pluck F # stems down = pluck E b

irreg. pulsing rough / trem.

(remove slide)

Upper stave indicates sounding pitch of strings affected by slide; the lower stave indicates the plucked string:

Top stave shows movement of slide (pitches are plucked from C # → D)

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sim. (alternate strings)

position slide between E # and F

At Letter T, paper is threaded between the strings to produce a rattling ‘rain-like’ sound when strings are plucked.

Strings affected are:

Alternate D/D# trill keys whilst ngering notated pitch (results in microtonal wavering)

Addition of B-key, graphic shows speed of trill movement/ depression of key (results in microtonal wavering) Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, Bassoons

Scoop/ gliss to main note (wailing/expressive)

Glissando upwards from given note (slide begins immediately – this is a sharper-edged kind of gliss)

Brass (also wind) & (7)

(7)

(11)

O œ tongue perc – percussive attack (less pitch)

(11)

œ pitches with downward arrows refer to tuning of the 7th and 11th harmonics of the overtone series

Strings

For the winds, tune to the brass contextually. The 7th is 31 cents lower; the 11th is 49 cents lower. (results will be approximate!)

O œ air sound – where practical, remove mouthpiece for stronger effect

h.sul pont bring out many overtones by adjusting bow contact point, speed and pressure (also sounding the fundamental pitch at times)

Multiphonic - complex sound produced on non-harmonic node

Other non-standard harmonics are indicated in the context of glissandi or rapid sequences of harmonics; emphasise overtones by playing closer to the bridge.

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97 & lateral sweep with loop (breathy) ord. nut

lateral sweep bow (breathy, partially pitched sound); sometimes with ‘loop’ = circular bow graphics show direction of the bow away from or towards the player with contact points noted: sul pont, sul tasto, mid (ie: halfway along the string between bridge and nut), and nut pp mp pp mf pp

ord. mid ord.

SUGGESTED SET-UP

Perc. 1 Perc. 2 Perc. 3

The Tailor of Time (2023)

PROGRAM NOTE

The title of the work comes from poetry of the great 13thC Persian Suf mystic Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. His poetry is sufused with images of longing and desire, bewilderment and annihilation in the face of Divine love. The couplets often play with paradoxical opposites, something which is certainly found in these lines from the Mathnawi (translations by Coleman Barks):

I have known pigeons who fy in a nowhere, and birds that eat grainlessness, and tailors who sew beautiful clothes by tearing them to pieces.

In another verse, he says:

The tailor of time has never sewn a shirt for any man without tearing it to pieces.

The poetry resonates with my compositional questions around time, temporality and the use of recurrence, repetition and interpolation as tools. How does one tie ‘knots’ in time, sew ‘pleats’ or ‘pockets’ in time and not only disrupt but tear, create rifts in, and erode the materiality of time? Time itself is of course a ‘tailor’ continually altering us and the world. All this is in the Suf way of using stories and everyday images of humble craftsmanship and objects to point to subtle messages of spiritual alchemy and transformation. The poetry also provides a clue to the presence of the two soloists in the work: the oboe played by Philippe Grauvogel and harp by Valeria Kafelnikov. Again and again in Rumi’s work, we fnd references to the crying of the ‘reed fute’ as a fgure for the way that Divine breath comes into the world, and to the lute as a symbol for the spiritual longing of the Lover’s heart strings.

The work is crafted for the Ensemble Intercontemporain with special thanks to oboist Philippe Grauvogel and harpist Valeria Kafelnikov for sharing wonderful knowledge about their instruments and who they are as musicians.

The Tailor of Time is dedicated to Joséphine Markovits

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I have known pigeons who fy in a nowhere, and birds that eat grainlessness, and tailors who sew beautiful clothes by tearing them to pieces.

- Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

The Tailor of Time Liza Lim

Perc. 2

q=56 A

Percussion 2:

Build an 'Impossible Monument' on a table as high as one can r each.

Stack up an unstable tower of items (a mix of percussion inst ruments, every-day items, rocks and shells that will make a complex sound when items fall ... (space is needed around this construction...)

Begin dragging "ﬂuttering" items from Monument on table and against each other

loudest sounds "tears oﬀ" halts ensemble who then regroup after a short break and begin again at B (2nd time without disruption) pp fff

Disruption causes ensemble to stop (ragged / uneven stop— some instruments continuing before realising they have to stop) They return to "bar 35" after a short break to begin again (2nd time no percussion 2)

"Make a scale" Begin ordering objects by moving them into position to make a scale (high → low)—additional sounds occur from moving objects (strike objects to check tuning) (rhythms are approx.)

Arrange a pile of 7 rocks/stones into a scale of ascending pitches (striking them with a beater to check the tuning, shifting them around until the task is done). When they're in order play the descending scale 10 x.

for example:

1 (Ob. d'A.) (solo)

2 (C. A.)

1 (Ob. d'A.) (solo)

2 (C. A.)

1 (Ob. d'A.) (solo)

2 (C. A.)

1 (Ob. d'A.) (solo) 2 (C. A.)

Suspend objects "in mid air" (ideally hang from invisible fly wires so it looks like they're magically floating in the air at different heights. Strike / play objects ad lib. e.g. cymbal