Binaural recording, please use headphones.

Impulse Impromptu I (Binaural Version)

For electric guitar, piano, violin, violoncello, percussion and electronics

Commissioned and premiered by Wild Rumpus!

Though atypical in many ways, this piece is in fact an overture for my opera Pedr Solis. For one thing, it will probably never be heard in front of the opera as the instrumentation is quite different. It was also written before the opera, and thus acts as more of a sketch pad than a summation of primary themes. The material types and the melodic fragment toward the end of this piece do play key roles in the larger work however, which had been under development for some time when the overture was composed.

The opera chronicles the fictionalized tale of an actual Norwegian author, Pedr Solis, whose work was best known in Scandinavia during the 60s and 70s. Solis wrote only two novels, the most famous of which is Stillaset, published in 1970. It is perhaps the most extreme example of literary modernism to emerge from Norway, and, as with many of his writings, takes literary modernism itself on as a subtext. A third, still unpublished novel was apparently well underway when Solis disappeared from the public eye. Many speculate that he isolated himself in the far north of Norway, though this was never officially confirmed. The libretto for the opera, by Paul Schick, draws upon this account of Solis’ life, as well as von Hofmannsthal's play The Tower.

The melodic fragment heard toward the end of the overture in the strings is a modified version of a traditional Finnish song reminiscent of a joik, the traditional song form of the Sami people of northern Scandinavia. The song is Kuu kulta kivestä nousit as performed by Me Naiset. Regarding the electronics, though all the instruments are amplified their sound receives no further processing. The piece does include electronic sounds though, all of which are pre-recorded and played back by laptop onstage. 

This piece is dedicated to Wild Rumpus. 

Solis Overture

Per Bloland is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music whose works have been praised by the New York Times as “lush, caustic,” and “irresistible.” His compositions range from intimate solo pieces to works for large orchestra, and incorporate video, dance, and custom-built electronics. He has received awards and recognition from organizations including IRCAM, ICMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, the Ohio Arts Council, Digital Art Awards of Tokyo, ISCM, the Martirano Competition, and SCI/ASCAP. His first opera, Pedr Solis, commissioned and premiered by Guerilla Opera in 2015, received rave reviews from the Boston Globe and the Boston Classical Review. He has received commissions from loadbang, Keith Kirchoff, Wild Rumpus, the Ecce Ensemble, Ensemble Pi, the Callithumpian Consort, Stanford’s CCRMA, SEAMUS/ASCAP, the Kenners, Michael Straus and Patti Cudd. His music can be heard on the TauKay (Italy), Capstone, Spektral, and SEAMUS labels, and through the MIT Press. A portrait CD of his work, performed by Ecce Ensemble, was recently released on Tzadik.

Bloland is the co-creator of the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano, about which he has given numerous lecture/demonstrations and published a paper. He is an Assistant Professor of Composition and Technology at Miami University, Ohio, and in 2013 completed a five-month Musical Research Residency at IRCAM in Paris. He received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University and his M.M. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Scores may be purchased at www.babelscores.com/perbloland
For more information visit: www.perbloland.com


Solis Overture

Per Bloland

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