I. Ginnungagap
II. Brynhild and Sigurd
III. Ragnarok
Duration: 19'30"
Instrumentation: Solo Marimba and chamber winds (Piccolo/Flute 2, Flute 1, Oboe/English Horn, Bb Clarinet, Bb Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Tenor Sax, Bb Trumpet, 2 F Horns, Trombone, Tuba, Piano, 3 Percussion (Perc. 1: vibraphone, china crash cym., crash cyms., bongos, snare, medium & low toms, thunder sheet. Perc. 2: xylophone, chimes, triangle, susp. cym., crash cyms., finger cyms. Perc. 3: glockenspiel, susp. cym., african bell tree, 2 almglocken, bass drum, gong), and Timpani)
Notes:
The Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble began as an inspiration to research the mythology of my Norwegian ancestors. After dismissing the idea of a completely programmatic work, I decided to compose a concerto with three movements, each inspired by the images of a different Norse myth. The titles of each movement hint at the stories and images drawn upon while that movement was being composed.
I. Ginnungagap (gyin-oong-gah-gahp)
According to Norse mythology, Ginnungagap is the term for the void that existed before Midgard (the Earth) came into being. It was said to be a void full of an electric, magical energy, which I try to depict in the opening of this piece. After the non-pitched opening the flutes enter, creating an icy mood representative of the first humans who lived on one side of the energetic void. The rest of the concerto is derived from this melody heard in the flutes. Slowly the icy mood dissipates as brass instruments enter and harmonies become more dissonant. The shift in mood conjures images of fire, the element of the giants who lived on the side of the void opposing the humans. The fire imagery strengthens and explodes, descending through a 9-note scale derived from the opening three notes of the flute melody.
The 9-note scale was formed by taking the intervals of the first three notes of the concerto (B, C, D), repeating them a half-step above the last note (D), yielding D#, E, and F#, and then doing this again, yielding G, G#, and A#. This scale is contained within Messiaen’s third mode of limited transposition.
Once the marimba enters, the remainder of the piece is then formed from the melodic and harmonic use of the 9-note scale. Ginnungagap does not have a strict form, but rather cohesion is achieved by reusing the same themes and harmonies throughout.
II. Brynhild and Sigurd(brin-hild and sig-erd)
The second movement is inspired by emotions and images from the story of Brynhild, one of three Valkyries—battle-maidens of Odin, father of all gods—who were banished to Midgard. Brynhild is put to sleep and can only be awakened by her true love (although there is no “love” in the usual sense in Norse mythology, this scenario is as close as it gets). Sigurd, a mortal, triumphs over the challenges placed in the way of slumbering Brynhild, wakes her, and takes her back to his kingdom.
Melodically, this movement is based entirely on the theme heard in the flutes at the beginning of the first movement. That theme is used in inversion, octave displacement, fragments, and other variation-like forms. The harmonic language is rooted in tonality, but always contains many non-standard pitches, yielding a lush yet complex sound. There is also a focus on quintal harmonies. Brynhild and Sigurd is in a large-scale ternary form, with a small-scale focus on alternation between soloist and ensemble, paying respect to the Baroque concerto form.
III. Ragnarok (rahg-nuh-rok)
Ragnarok is the final battle between the gods and the fire giants. It results in the destruction of the entire cosmos—gods included—and is triggered by the release of three figures that had previously been restrained. These three are Loki, the god of mischief and father of Hel, the queen of Niflheim (the underworld); Fenrir, son of Loki, a giant wolf who during the Ragnarok consumes Odin; and Garm, a monstrous dog that normally guards the gates of Niflheim. I attempt to capture these apocalyptic images and emotions through dissonance, a driving, intense rhythmic force, and the distorted use of musical material from the previous two movements.
If Ginnungagap is the exploration of a scale and Brynhild and Sigurd is the exploration of a melody, Ragnarok is the exploration and evolution of a motive. This five-note motive is formed through a synthesis of the first three notes of the concerto and the 9-note scale. The motive is ever-present throughout the movement at various speeds and in different rhythms, often in multiple voices simultaneously, and occasionally occurring all at once, harmonically. This movement is in an approximate seven-part rondo form (ABACAB + Coda), this time paying respect to the Classical third-movement concerto form. The B section features a distorted version of the melody developed in the second movement, the C section brings back the ethereal sounds of the Ginnungagap in an intensified form, and the Coda is a chronological recapitulation of all the main themes, which is slowly infected with more and more material from the final movement until it takes over, leading both soloist and ensemble to a final explosion of sound.
Listen to excerpts:
I. Ginnungagap: I. Ginnungagap
II. Brynhild and Sigurd: II. Brynhild and Sigurd
III. RagnarokIII. Ragnarok
[Ad-hoc ensemble / Amy Putnam, marimba soloist / Rickey Badua, conductor]
View sample pages:
I. Ginnungagap: Page 1, Page 17, Page 40
II. Brynhild and Sigurd: Page 44, Page 51, Page 68
III. Ragnarok: Page 71, Page 87, Page 93