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A native of New York City, Allen Brings received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Queens College and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, where he was a Mosenthal Fellow and a student of Otto Luening, and a doctorate in theory and composition from Boston University, where he was …
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Duologue 10
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Instrumentation: flute and violin
Composed: 2008
Duration: ca. 4.5 min.
Score: 5 pp.
Parts: 6 pp.
Website: library.newmusicusa.org/allenbrings
Composed: 2008
Duration: ca. 4.5 min.
Score: 5 pp.
Parts: 6 pp.
Website: library.newmusicusa.org/allenbrings
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It is not unusual for a composer to seek relief from a big project by writing one or more shorter pieces with only modest instrumentation. Having completed a "short symphony" for symphonic wind ensemble in 1998, I too sought to relax and to refresh my imagination by composing an approximately five minute piece for two woodwind instruments. Little did I realize it at the time that the fascination and challenge of writing such music would quickly lead to still more "duologues," each for a different pair of instruments--not excluding, of course, my own instrument, the piano. As of this date, August 22, 2009, twelve have been completed, of which Duologue 10 for flute and violin was composed in 2008.
The malleability and expressive possibilities of a single melodic line and its adventures when travelling in the company of another melodic line have always had a special attraction for me just as, I suppose, the short story has had occasionally for the novelist. When the choice is two dissimilar instruments with markedly different timbres and ways of articulating tones, the possibilities for striking characterizations are innumerable. To observe how they interact with one another can, in fact, be much like watching a two-character playlet. As in a playlet, the two instruments in each of these pieces have been dealt the same two contrasting subjects or themes which they are obliged to develop. How they react to this dramatic situation is what we the listeners are intent on learning. At times they are quite volatile, at others calm and reflective. Sometimes they are excitable and argumentative or may even pretend not hear what the other is saying. Always, they are eager to involve us in their interactivity, and, if the actors have done their job properly, indeed we will.
The malleability and expressive possibilities of a single melodic line and its adventures when travelling in the company of another melodic line have always had a special attraction for me just as, I suppose, the short story has had occasionally for the novelist. When the choice is two dissimilar instruments with markedly different timbres and ways of articulating tones, the possibilities for striking characterizations are innumerable. To observe how they interact with one another can, in fact, be much like watching a two-character playlet. As in a playlet, the two instruments in each of these pieces have been dealt the same two contrasting subjects or themes which they are obliged to develop. How they react to this dramatic situation is what we the listeners are intent on learning. At times they are quite volatile, at others calm and reflective. Sometimes they are excitable and argumentative or may even pretend not hear what the other is saying. Always, they are eager to involve us in their interactivity, and, if the actors have done their job properly, indeed we will.
| Website: | http://amc.net/allenbrings |
| Email: | miramusic@aol.com |
