Instrumentation: Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Piano, Percussion, Violin, Viola, Cello
Duration: 13:00
Performers: Ensem­ble con­tem­po­rain de Montréal, con­duc­tor: Véronique Lacroix
Com­mis­sioned by the Ensem­ble con­tem­po­rain de Montréal
Premiered by ECM in Montreal, October 9, 2006.
Score & Parts

Program Notes

Culture no.3 is the last in a series of pieces that deals with the ways that modern popular culture can inform Western art music. More specifically, Culture no.3 is involved in exploring the interrelation between the visceral elements of popular music and timbre. By visceral elements, I mean, for example, the sense of motion, the forcefulness of the articulations, or the character of the rhythm or tempo, to name a few. The traditional pitch resources of the popular sphere have required that viscerality and timbre play a greater role in defining popular genres (and subsequently in determining what we find interesting within them) than is seen in the majority of Western art music. Culture no.3, with a greater emphasis on timbre and viscerality and a subsequently lesser emphasis on other aspects of the musical whole, uses the resources of the Western ensemble to feature this aspect of popular music.