Recordings
Nurit Jugend
Stanford Chamber Strings
Lisa Bielawa - Mezzo-Soprano
Karla Lemon - Conductor
(2001)
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N
urit Jugend
ows To Brushes
B
(13 Solo Strings & Mezzo-Soprano)
This piece is an attempt to capture the essence of a visual scene - the autumn. Of particular interest are elements such as the wind, the chill in the air, the structure of the trees, and the colors of the leaves. I have chosen to represent the impression of autumn in the pointillist style - the mottled color of the leaves translating easily into strokes of a brush.
In the visual arts, the pointillist technique constructs a coherent image from a collection of pure dots of color. Each of the dots is devoid of an internal structure or substantial meaning by itself. It is only through the juxtaposition of these elements that local collections of points acquire a more subtle hue, a complex structure, and a meaningful image.
The form of the piece intends to explore a musical analogy to this technique. I wish to capture not only the final product - the painting - but the process of rendering it in the pointillist style. In other words, I attempt to reveal, in time, the evolution of this visual self-assembly as directed by the artist, and so observe points becoming lines; lines becoming forms; forms becoming images.
In the dramatization of the visual creative process I have cast the voices in particular roles. The vocalist is treated equally to the strings and represents the artist himself. The artist’s intentions are executed by tools - the brushes - represented by the Celli section. The melodic lines played by the Celli represent the process of the dots becoming lines and foreshadow the image revealed later in the piece. The rest of the string sections represent the evolution of dots into form, eventually revealing the painting.
The duality of the subject (autumn) and the technique (pointillism) as described in the piece generates an ambiguity of interpretation. One listener might hear the brush on the canvas, while another might hear the leaves on the trees. Neither interpretation dominates, but rather shifts with binary stability for each listener individually.
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