Sy. 4708 - Liza Lim - The Compass (2005-2006)

Liza Lim The Compass

for large orchestra with solo flute and didgeridoo 2005-2006

Partitur

Sy. 4708/01 ISMN 979-0-2042-4708-0

CopyrightbyRicordiBerlin/Onlyforperusal

It is requested that markings are made in light pencil (HB) only. All markings should be removed from the score before the material is returned.

Photocopying, or any other form of duplication, is strictly prohibited.

The Compass

For large orchestra with solo flute and didgeridoo by Liza Lim

Jointly commissioned by the Sydney Symphony and Bayerischer Rundfunk/Musica Viva.

A project of Sydney Symphony’s composer-in-residence programme supported by Symphony Australia with financial assistance from the Australia Council, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body.

Sydney premiere: 23 August 2006, Sydney Opera House. Sydney Symphony conducted by Alexander Briger Soloists: Rosamund Plummer (flutes), William Barton (didgeridoo)

Munich Premiere: 12 January 2007, Musica Viva Concerts. Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchester conducted by Christoph Poppen Soloists: Carin Levine (flutes), William Barton (didgeridoo)

Dedicated to Gianluigi Gelmetti

Duration: c.22 mins

Typesetting and Music Preparation by Peter Readman

This material remains the property of G.Ricordi & Co. (London) Ltd. All requests for performance should be directed to the publisher.

+44 (0)20 7835 5382 www.ricordi.co.uk

The Compass (2005-2006)

For large orchestra with solo flute and didgeridoo

Instrumentation

All musicians except bassoons, contrabassoon, bass tuba and didgeridoo also play tin toy ‘insect clickers’.

CopyrightbyRicordiBerlin/Onlyforperusal

Solo Flute (d. piccolo and bass flute) - amplified

Solo Didgeridoo (player also sings and plays clapsticks) - 2 microphones required to amplify voice and instrument.

3 Flutes (all with low B-foot; Flute 3 doubles piccolo)

2 Oboes

Cor Anglais

Clarinet in A

Bass Clarinet

Contrabass Clarinet

2 Bassoons

Contrabassoon

4 Horns

3 Trumpets (Trumpet 1 doubles piccolo trumpet)

2 Trombones

Bass Trombone

Bass Tuba

Timpani (38’, 25’ and 21’) plus cymbal to be placed upside down on Timp. 1

Percussion (2 players):

Percussion 1:Claves, 2 ‘insect clickers’, Ratchet, Pebbles in tin, Ocean Drum (geophone), Schwirrbogen (rotating ‘wind catcher’ creating bull-roar er, Aboriginal clapsticks (set at piano, amplified), Cabassa (set at piano and amplified).

Percussion 2:2 woodblocks, 2 ‘insect clickers’ 2 pebbles (large, as resonant as possible), 4 tom-toms, Bass drum, Ocean drum, Schwirrbogen, Aboriginal clapsticks (set at piano and amplified).

Percussionists also bow piano strings with rosined nylon fishing line

Piano (pianist also bows piano strings with rosined fishing line)

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Violoncello

Double Bass

Schwirrbogen ( available on the following website) : http://anklang-musikwelt.de/a_percussionsound/schwirrholz-schwirrbogen.html

Insect clickers ( example on the following website): http://www.puffins.com/toysmithpg17.html

Notes for performance

Accidentals apply to the note they immediately precede; natural signs have also been used to aid reading.

Two microphones are required by the didgeridoo soloist (for voice and didgeridoo)

Quartertones

Amplification

Amplification is required for the bass flute

Two microphones are required to amplify voice and didgeridoo

One microphone is required set at the piano to amplify percussion instruments

Solo piccolo/flute/bass flute

Fingerings for multiphonics and high trills are by Carine Levine. (Carine Levine, Christina Mitropoulas-Bott, TheTechniqueofFlutePlayingIandII , Bärenreiter, Kassel, 2004)

Tongue percussion

Breath sound (both pitched and unpitched)

Low throat growl, contour the pitch by singing

Also with rapid random key movement

Jet whistle (also whilst changing fingering)

Solo Didgeridoo

Soloist plays 2 instruments with fundamental pitches as follows:

Didgeridoo player also sings and plays clap sticks.

Fundamental pitch is notated either at sounding pitch in bass clef or on single line stave.

Upper five-line stave is used to show the approximate pitch contour of high vocal articulation and high harmonic ‘hoots’ as well as other effects:

Dingo - high forceful call

Crow - high throat growl with glissando play and sing simultaneously

Winds

Unpitched breath noise

Multiphonics

Oboe multiphonic fingerings are by Peter Veale (Peter Veale, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, TheTechniquesofOboePlaying , Bärenreiter, Kassel, 1993.)

Bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet/bassoon multiphonics where graphic shows degree of overtone enrichment of sound.

Bassoon/Contrabassoon multiphonic based on given pitch.

Brass

Unpitched breath noise

Strings

unpitched breath (air) sound (dampen strings/bow bridge)

half-pressed string (between harmonic and ord. finger pressure) resulting in muted, breathy tone.

Vc./Db. high glissandi above fingerboard.

‘lateral sweep’ (bars 244-245, Vln, Vln2, Vla): sweep bow along length of string (bridge to fingerboard and vice versa)

‘scrape’ (bar 245, Vc, Db.): using extreme pressure, scrape bowhair 90 degrees along length of string.

h.sul pont. (Vc, Db.): bow near the bridge, continually adjusting bow position, speed and pressure to bring out a rich spray of harmonics (occasionally sounding fundamental pitch)

Piano

The piano should have its lid removed.

The following piano strings are bowed using rosined nylon thread (eg: fishing line) with each ‘bow’ comprising at least eight strands. These ‘bows’ should be threaded around each required string and set so that they can be easily accessed. A weight can be used to keep the piano pedal depressed.

Bowed notes:

Perc. 1

Perc. 2 Piano

The Compass

The didgeridoo holds a central position in this work, not so much as an overt soloist (though the two soloists - flute and didgeridoo - are indeed given very virtuosic parts), but in terms of how the Aboriginal instrument creates a template for the sonic frequencies at which the orchestra resonates. The tuning of the two didgeridoos played by the soloist (in A and in C) provides the musical co-ordinates for the piece. It also re-orients the hierarchy of the instruments so that the usual 'horizon line' of dominant treble instruments with supporting bass, is tilted and sometimes reversed. A resonating tree branch provides a singing, speaking and breathing compass that calls out lines of connection in the sonic landscape of the orchestra.

The Compass begins with a chant sung by the didgeridoo player - the text was devised by Liza Lim in consultation with William Barton, translated into his ancestral language of Kalkadoon (Indigenous language of the Kalkadoon nation in the Mount Isa region of Central Queensland):

Ja Whydoo Ka Inne

The Heart Sits in the Land

Woodjan Woodjan WoodjanFire Fire Fire

Oul Gordee Wuroo WurooA River of Stars

(The word 'woodjan' also refers to starlight; the 'river of stars' is The Milky Way.)

The words announce the elemental themes of the work - the expressive vibrating body (the heart in the land, or earth); transformation (fire); spiralling forms that open out towards a world beyond the human (River of Stars).

Liza Lim, April 2006

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tempo rubato (follow solo flute)

tempo rubato (follow solo flute)

(Amplified) sing through flute (mouth covers embouchure)

tempo rubato (follow solo flute)

1 (Pno String)

2 (Pno String)

1. sfz (bowed piano strings)

(bowed piano strings)