Trevor Pearce: Deserts I (1982)

Abstract

"Deserts I is drawn from a series of three works which owe their inspiration to the idea of deserts in both literal and metaphorical senses. The work in this series set out to explore and interpret specific aspects of our understanding of deserts. Deserts I for instance concentrates on the evocation of space, colour, distance and contour. The subsequent two pieces, Deserts II composed for Flederman and Deserts III composed for the Seymour Group, deal with the idea in a wider, more abstract framework. Deserts I is made up of three movements, each centred on a specific idea. The first focuses on the suggestion of soft intricate vibration and gentle power. The grainy texture of the side drum rolls in the opening bars gradually gives rise to subtle shifts of colour and rhythmic layers with emergence of tuned percussion instruments in all parts. While the piece is essentially non-programmatic, the second movement introduces and develops a harsher, more violent component. It takes as its point of departure the British atomic testing in the Maralinga desert area in the 1950s. Repeated rhythmic figurations give way to material of a more fragmented and suspended nature. With the third movement the focus shifts to ideas of regeneration and vitality. The texture is once again sustained, built up of the continuous repetition and transformation of melodic motives, primarily among the tuned percussion. Non-tuned percussion instruments are used on the one hand to support and expand the texture, and on the other to interrupt and change the direction of the musical flow. The percussion ensemble is treated largely as an amorphous and intangible sonorous body: sometimes homogeneous and closely synchronised, sometimes four percussion players with the fourth performer doubling on piano. Deserts I was composed especially for Synergy." -- Trevor Pearce