MISE-EN is a collection of works that share a common sound ideal and conceptual instrumentation. Work on this collection began in 2018 while collaborating with the Ensemble MISE-EN in South Korea under the auspices of the Oil Tank Culture Park Global Network in Seoul.

The resulting work, MISE-EN Series I, is an electroacoustic work scored for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Percussion, Ableton Live, and Acousmatic Sound. This work was meant to reflect the aesthetic agenda of Ensemble MISE-EN, whose name roughly translates from Korean to English as meaning “decorative beauty.”

To achieve this goal, I decided to write a work for chamber ensemble which would reflect a larger sonic landscape than what might be considered traditional chamber writing. I thus included live and prerecorded electronics in the scoring and composed with two divergent but complementary musical components: “sound tapestry” (“beautiful”), and ornamentation (“decorative”).

Series I is the first of a series of works based on this concept of “decorative beauty”. To simplify logistics, the Ableton Live part, which would otherwise be performed by a seventh ensemble player, can be mixed with the Acousmatic Sound recording. The World Premiere of MISE-EN, Series I in November 2018, was performed by the Ensemble MISE-EN with this alternative version.

It only occurred to me after completing this first work that I could expand and extend MISE-EN as a series of works. To implement this while retaining the underlying sound ideal of “decorative beauty” for all works of the series, I decided to pair electroacoustic devices with a different legacy or standard acoustic ensemble for each follow-on work. Thus, Series I is scored for a slightly modified “Pierrot” ensemble. Series II, this work, is scored for Amplified String Quartet and Acousmatic Sound. In 2021, the first Episode of Series II was selected by the Sirius Quartet for recording by PARMA to be released on the Navona Records label, CD and streaming audio. The opening Episode presents a tightly woven contrapuntal texture that is eventually painted against a contrasting broad and richly scored melodic line. The juxtaposition of this contrasting content awaits further exploration, as this first Episode ends with a question marked by the remnants of an ascending and fading contrapuntal cascade. The ornamentation of the contrapuntal texture frames the beauty expressed in the soaring cantabile, thus delineating a formal framework that harkens back to a bygone era, an era that nevertheless remains alive and essential in my creative work.

Playing on the Edge 3

Mise-En Series II, Episode 1

In August of 2022, Irene, my wife and soulmate of so many wonderful years, passed away. The following years were the most difficult years of my life as I was devastated and overwhelmed by grief. Several years prior to Irene’s passing, I had started on a large orchestral work reflecting on our life together with our son, Peren, during his childhood years. This work is still in progress, but stylistically it has had a great impact on the composition of my Pieces of Love and Remembrance as it foreshadows much of what I expressed in Seeking Serenity, Part I. I started to write down ideas here and there during the more lucid moments of my grieving. Then in early 2024, I received an invitation from PARMA Recordings to write a short 5-minute piece for piano and orchestra. I immediately jumped at the opportunity, and Seeking Serenity, Part I is the work I composed for this occasion.

Although I do not generally, and did not with Seeking Serenity, attempt to tell a story or narrative of some kind, listeners of my music often reflect on how my music evokes in them certain feelings, images, or extra musical references. This was particularly true of Irene, and I so miss how she would relate to me about her feelings and impressions while listening to my music. Indeed, I am overjoyed to learn that listeners can get caught up in the emotions of my music as they follow their own unique journey guided by what they hear.

On a very personal level, I can identify with the piano solo which strives to find some point of repose or comfort, seeking this not in despair but in the hope of finding and rekindling love, belonging and the strength to continue on. The opening arpeggiated passages underscore the direction of this sentiment. The orchestra for its part is like, dare I say, Irene who is gently beckoning me on to find that place of repose and acceptance, full of color, bright sounds, and signposts pointing the way. By the end of Part I, the solo finds itself in a delicately balanced and restructured statement of motivic material alluded to previously, and in a high, bell-like register of the piano, echoed and enfolded finally by an orchestral texture not unlike wind chimes reverberating into infinity.

Journey to Serenity

Pieces of Love and Remembrance: Seeking Serenity, Part I

Composer of contemporary classical concert art music.  Peter's is a unique musical voice with singing dynamism and expressive color.  His works include pieces for orchestra, ensembles, voice, piano, and electronic/digital media.  Peter’s music embodies a hybrid stylistic approach and incorporates influences as diverse as Elliot Carter and Earle Brown, Rachmaninoff and Schoenberg, or Xenakis and Bach.  Visit his website to learn more about his music and background.

Pieces of Love and Remembrance: Seeking Serenity, Part I

Peter Dickson Lopez

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