0.0.0.2tsax(=kazoo).0-0.0.1(=kazoo).0-perc:lion's roar/lg sheet of paper/2 car hns/3Beijing Opera gongs/chain/2 ratchets/megaphone-piano(=kazoo)-elec.gtr(=kazoo)
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Boosey & Hawkes (Hendon Music)
ppopp was commissioned by the Dutch group Ensemble Klang in 2009. The commission was part of their “One Song Song Cycle” for a festival of literature and music, in which ten composers from around the world were asked to respond to a single, newly written poem in Dutch. The poem, by Ilja Leonard Pfieffer, one of Holland’s leading poets, deals with the peculiar sounds found in the Dutch language in a verse/chorus structure. I decided to take this one stage further and cast my piece in the form of a pop song. There are verses and choruses and a bridge and even a “key-change” and fade-out. It lasts 3+ minutes. However, I decided to do all this without pitches. So my pop song is a song without words, but without notes as well.
— Oscar Bettison
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This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the composer.