Windows (Druckman)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Windows
by Jacob Druckman
File:Componist Jacob Duckman kop, Bestanddeelnr 928-6256.jpg
Jacob Duckman, 1976
Composed 1972
Dedication Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky
Duration about 20 minutes
Movements One
Scoring Orchestra
Premiere
Date 16 March 1972 (1972-03-16)
Location Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Conductor Bruno Maderna
Performers Chicago Symphony

Windows is a one-movement orchestral composition written by Jacob Druckman in 1972. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in the same year. Windows was commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation for conductor Bruno Maderna and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is dedicated to conductor Serge Koussevitzky and his wife Natalie.

Druckman himself explained the name of the composition as follows:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

The 'Windows' of the title are windows inward. They are points of light which appear as the thick orchestral textures part, allowing us to hear, fleetingly, moments out of time – memories, not of any music that ever existed before, but memories of memories, shadows of ghosts. The imagery is as though, having looked at an unpeopled wall of windows, one looks away and sees the afterimage of a face.[1]

Much of the work involves the use of aleatoric processes, similar to those associated with Witold Lutosławski. Windows was originally going to share a program with Claude Debussy's Jeux when it was premiered and Druckman wanted to pay homage to Debussy.[1]

A typical performance of the piece lasts about 20 minutes.

Instrumentation

The work is written for an orchestra with the following instrumentation.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. From the score: "though this part is written so that it can be accomplished by one player, it is much safer with two players".
  4. Small metal rings loosely hung on coils
  5. The long type with one end mounted in a wooden block which rests on the floor