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Scoring

3(II,III=picc,III=afl).3(III=corA).3.(III=bcl).3.(III=dbn)-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(3)-harp-strings(14.12.10.8.6)

Abbreviations (PDF)

Publisher

Boosey & Hawkes / Bote & Bock

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

Availability

World Premiere
20/01/2012
Opera City Concert Hall, Tokyo
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada
Composer's Notes

The idea of the universe as an ornament (Kosmos) as a way to explain the visible, – writes the naturalist and entomologist Gilles Clément – suggests that only the surface of things is revealed while the rest of the system – probably the substance – remains hidden.

With "subliminal" I tried to create a microcosm, a biological entity whose structure, functions and internal relationships are mostly obscured from our conscious and rational perception. The morphological aspects and the identity of the organism itself are perhaps partially perceptible past the threshold of the sonorous surface, beyond the simulacra of the things with which they appear.

The piece is divided into four contrasting sections; part one deals with symmetric harmonical structures and an ascending melodic line. Transformed into a chord, this element outlines the 2nd section which is of dramatic character; after an abrupt collapse the slower third part follows; the finale develops a small rythmic cell that becomes tremendously accelerated.

Press Quotes

"In his piece subliminal, Deutsch, winner of the Erste Bank composition award, sought to express subtle processes of consciousness. The music was graphic, agile and sensual; short swarms of sound, trickling away at first, rose up to powerful, martial climaxes, sometimes with lyrical cantilenas in between." (Stefan Ender, Der Standard, 18 November 2013)

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