6CB1C55B-5485-48DC-97D1-B8E31A0BAB1A

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ID6CB1C55B-5485-48DC-97D1-B8E31A0BAB1A
TitlecodeR00533
Title NameThe Twittering Machine for Chamber Ensemble
Marketing CopyMay be performed with multiple strings for chamber orchestra.
InstrumentationFlute(d Picc), Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Perc(1), Piano, Harp, 2 Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass
CommissionCommissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University
Dedication
Program NotesThe Twittering Machine was completed in 1993 with a commission from the Barlow Endowment for Music composition, and first performed by David Stock conducting the Pittsburgh New music ensemble in November of 1993.

The title, Twittering Machine, is intended to express my life-long fascination with the work of painter, Paul Klee. Klee+s Twittering machine is both a drawing and a painting of four birds perched on a crank shaft. The drawn images are whimsical, puppet-like, mechanistic, ironic, and playful, reflected by the faster sections of my composition. These are set against a lyrical field of transparent color, represented by the slower sections of my piece.

I was especially drawn to the painting+s biting humor (imagine what would happen to the birds if the crank shaft were turned). In my piece, I make attempts to humor throughout the use of repeated structures and denied expectation -- rhythms are displaced, passages are suddenly transposed or textures juxtaposed.

There are elements of danger in Klee+s painting: arrows piercing some of the birds, a gaping hole or ditch the birds might fall into, and the presence of an exclamation mark which is a recurring symbol in Klee+s work meant to suggest impending doom. The danger elements in my piece consist of many large silences, or musical holes, that the players risk falling into if they+re not attentive.

Most important is my intention that the work, like Klee+s Twittering Machine, convey movement -- that it engage the body as well as the mind -- that it "dance"!

Cindy McTee
Title Brand2
Year Composed1993
Copyright Number
Copyright Year
Duration13
Ensemble Size(not set)
Date Created2008-10-31 00:00:00.000000
Date Updated2023-06-25 05:48:42
Inhouse Note
Bsc Code
Text Author
Premier Performance Memo-Contemporary Directions Ensemble/ H. Robert Reynolds. 14 Oct 95.
-USC Contemporary Music Ensemble/ Donald Crockett. 21 Nov 95.
-University of Iowa/ David Gompper. 24 Apr 94.
-World Premiere, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble/ David Stock. 01 Nov 93.
Recording Credits
Review(not set)
Awards
Title Category2
Title Movements(not set)
Title Grade(not set)
Set Series ID(not set)
Title Instrument Category TextLarge Chamber Ensemble
Title Sub Category Text(not set)
Title Sub Category-1
Title Instrument Header25
Title Grade Text(not set)
Clean Urlthe-twittering-machine-for-chamber-ensemble-r00533