OM-EИ (2011/2023)
for solo piano

This piece was my first experiment using the twelve-tone technique (also known as dodecaphony), an influential compositional approach that rose to great prominence throughout the twentieth century but has largely been set aside by modern composers. By only using all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale (all the notes within an octave) in a fixed order and not repeating any pitches before the full list has been expended, practitioners of the technique attempted to forge new musical grammars and cast off the hierarchies of common-practice harmonic syntax they had inherited from centuries of composers that came before. This often-rigid ordering of pitches in “tone rows” still provided room for permutation (and therefore, intellectual complexity), through presenting rows in reverse, inverting the intervals within (making all upward movement go down, for example), or transposing the row to start on a different pitch but still proceeding through the same order of intervals. The rules of counterpoint, tonal centres, and conventional chord relationships that defined Western art music from the Baroque period to that point were intentionally being cast aside, the culturally accumulated standards of consonance and dissonance being flattened. This initial framework spawned many streams of compositional practice from the mid-century on, known widely now as “serialism.”

The prompt that generated this specific piece was to write a short solo work for piano using said twelve-tone technique. We were permitted to choose our own tone row and employ its permutations how we saw fit. My personal intent was to explore how a conventional tune (often birthed from a traditional harmonic framework) could still be expressed within the twelve-tone idiom. From my limited understanding of what was possible in this system at the time, I set forth interweaving rows – some inverted, transposed, and/or presented in retrograde – with the goal of perserving a traditional melody throughout and allowing new harmonies to emerge from this tapestry. As with the turbulence I experienced with my preceding microtonal violin piece, my challenges to bring this idea to fruition resulted in what was ostensibly just a plan for the arrangement of the tone rows, without much attention to other musical dimensions. The main criticism I received on my submitted draft was that I used a very restricted range of the instrument. It was left as mostly a sketch, and I never made it to the class where we got to hear these compositions read through by an actual pianist. 

On revisiting this piece recently, I finally fleshed out the texture and character that I had always intended, indicated primarily by my original marking of a “moderate rag” tempo and style. With the familiar tune still present throughout, the composition has become a bit of a piano showpiece, perhaps a fun encore to a recital. 

As for my relationship to twelve-tone composition: like many, I now appreciate that its framework for organizing pitch and the manipulations used to elaborate within that system suffer from being opaque to perception by the listener, especially those not versed in the theoretical underpinnings of the style or the particular work at hand. Most people cannot identify that a tone row has been repeated – let alone in reverse or with its intervals flipped upside down – and the complexity of how these processes are then superimposed and woven together cannot be casually appreciated without that foundation, especially on first hearing (assuming a listener might grant a second). Expect an upcoming follow-up that will explore this a little further. With that in mind, the sonic palette that twelve-tone composition can create remains fruitful and still free of the trappings of classical harmony that permeate much of modern music today – it is yet another tool of expression, to be kept in the back pocket for when the need arises.

OM–EИ (2011/2023)

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Too many mental equations = dizziness
معادلات ذهنی زیاد = کسگیجه

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Sartaqari - Ko$gije (Clean Version)

CHELSEA IS BAD! is my debut album. Feel free to listen to this anytime. This is the story of Me and Chelsea.

CHELSEA IS BAD

DONT BE AFRAID

Anthony Calmel : Composition, Guitars, Midi, Mix.
Jean-Luc Baltzinger : Keyboardist, Strings melody.

Dancezilla

Our version of the original composition Dispidida by Capeverdian composer Orlando Pantera

Played by 

Maringo Béréos on vocal and piano
Azubike Onwuka on bass
Jur de Vries on guitar
Mani Boulabi on drums

Florian van Damme recording

Dispidida (Live @ the Salon Amsterdam 22-10-'22)

DALJEET - I DON'T CARE
MUSIC - DOMBOI
MIX N MASTERED - BENJAMINREGGERS

I DONT CARE - DALJEET

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You don't want what you think you bring
decades in these streets, conjure your worst 
been buried alive, been sacrificed, been cloned 
now what? nothing, from nothing we come

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Last Signs of Space

Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and music educator with diverse roots in classical, jazz and contemporary art music, as well as street performance and musical theatre. Frequently juggling a unique array of saxophones, bassoons, and clarinets (even cello) within a single performance, he has performed alongside ensembles from across southern British Columbia, including the Victoria Symphony, Theatre Under the Stars Vancouver, and as a founding member of the BT Williams Quartet. Whitehorne earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria in 2018 and currently pursues academic research into music, language, and the brain, as part of graduate studies in psychology. As a composer, his output includes works for solo musicians, chamber ensemble and larger forces. Whitehorne has often been heard in an eclectic mix of venues around Victoria, from the Royal Theatre to the Inner Harbour causeway, passionate about sharing fresh, engaging music with new audiences.

OM–EИ (2011/2023)

Lee Whitehorne

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