Chase: Babel

• Composer: Ryan Chase (1987-)
• Instrumentation: Chamber Orchestra
• Work: Babel (2025) (1(+picc)1111(asax) - 1000 - 2 perc, prep pno, hp - 2110)
• Binding:
• ISMN: 9790307301917
• Size: 9.8 x 12.8 inches
• Pages: None

Description

Composer's Note:

I am troubled by the state of the world and the general "post-truthiness" of things.Babelis the latest in a series of large ensemble pieces composed as coded responses to current events. The amorphous, brittle textures are a product of our uncertain present: I wanted to sonify the paranoia and disquietude characterizing the current moment. I wanted to give a voice to the anxieties of my students, my colleagues, friends, and family.

A sonata form shattered upon recapitulation, most of the musical material is derived from a microtonal cantus that shrinks the diatonic scale to the span of in a Minor third. Rhythmicized as a garish ostinato on the piccolo, I was thinking about the evolution of marching bands from institutionally-sanctioned sounding boards to megaphones for civil disobedience.

Babelis dedicated to Francesca Zambello. Words are real. How we respond to them is real, too.