An Unaware Cosmos
Complete Work Title:
An Unaware Cosmos — modular cycle for multiple soloists and chamber ensembles
Performance Medium:
various soloists and mixed chamber ensembles of two to six instruments (see below for details).
Duration:
variable (c.10:00-30:00+)
Date Composed:
August 2012 – August 2018
Dedication:
A celebration of humankind’s quest for knowledge through skepticism and critical inquiry, and to those freethinkers who have devoted their lives to such noble pursuits.
Movements (Modules):
The cycle is comprised of the following nineteen individual modules, any number of which may be combined in any way:
- Que sçay-je?, for solo Eb clarinet
- A Splendid Torch, for solo piccolo trumpet
- …e pur si muove, for solo violin
- A Noble Ideal, for solo xylophone
- Unweaving a Rainbow, for viola (or violin, or violoncello) and piano
- The Illusion of Permanence, for violin and violoncello
- Celestial Teapot, for percussion (vibraphone, crotales, tam-tams) and piano (or harp)
- Blind Watchmaker, for contrabassoon and 2 percussion (4 woodblocks, 4 log drums)
- A Fleeting Symmetry, for guitar, harp, and harpsichord
- On the Perimeter of Ignorance, for piccolo, celesta, and flexatone
- A Delicate Geometry, for voice (countertenor or mezzo-soprano), electric guitar, and accordion (or harmonium or positive organ)
- La Contagion sacrée, for trumpet, horn, trombone, and percussion (optional, one player: afuche, sand blocks, or rattle)
- Pascal’s Fallacy, for saxophone quartet (SATB, ATTB, AAAA)
- Glorious Accidents, for 4 woodwinds (double-reeds and/or saxophones)
- Transient Dominion, for Flugelhorn (or trumpet), bass trombone, piano, and percussion (tom-toms, cymbals, tam-tam)
- Shadows on the Horizon, for string quartet
- The Indelible Stamp of Our Lowly Origin, for four contrabasses
- La vanité des superstitions, for alto flute, English horn, bass clarinet, horn, and bassoon
- Die Tyrannei der Mehrheit, for low brass (four parts, up to four players per part, drawn from bass trumpets, euphoniums, tubas) and percussion (2 to 4 players: chimes, tam-tams; gongs, bell plates, and almglocken, ad libitum)
Additional Information:
- The individual modules in this cycle are mutable, allowing for the resulting music to be fragmented, dislocated, suspended, disrupted, and penetrated in often unpredictable ways, and exploring a variety of relationships—timbral, spatial, conceptual, structural—both within and between modules.
- A performance of An Unaware Cosmos should include two or more modules; however, some modules may be performed independently (e.g., Unweaving a Rainbow, Que sçay-je?,” The Illusion of Permanence).
- This work was supported in part by a faculty fellowship from the University of North Texas Institute for the Advancement of the Arts.
- Additional information about this work is included in the Projects section of this website.
- Finalist, NYC Contemporary Music Symposium at Columbia University 2022 (“Unweaving a Rainbow”).
- Eight modules published in the January 2016 issue of ink&coda, an online journal of prose and music.
Recordings:
Premiere performance of the complete cycle, featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble, Nova Ensemble, and Mélange Saxophone Quartet: 26 October 2018 at the University of North Texas Murchison Performing Arts Center (Denton, TX).
Animated score of a realization with six modules, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble on 28 October 2018 at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX).
Realization with five modules, performed 28 November 2017 by members of the UNT Nova Ensemble at the University of North Texas Voertman Concert Hall (Denton, TX).
Realization with five modules, performed 18 March 2022 by the Ball State University New Music Ensemble for the 21st Century Guitar Conference at Ball State University (Muncie, IN).
Realization with two modules (for three performers) recorded December 2018 and November 2019 at the University of North Texas Voertman Concert Hall (Denton, TX).
Score:
Program Note:
An Unaware Cosmos was conceived as a celebration of humankind’s quest for knowledge through skepticism and critical inquiry, as well as a rebuke of the tribalism, superstition, and sophistry that continue to characterize much of our society well into the 21st century. Concepts relating to cosmology, evolutionary biology, and genetics—as well as aspects of materialism, existentialism, humanism, and other nontheistic philosophies—have informed this modular work for multiple soloists and mixed chamber ensembles.
The polyvalent and mutable arrangement of the nineteen modules that comprise this cycle are intended to explore a variety of relationships—timbral, spatial, conceptual, structural—both within and between modules. In performance, music from these distinct modules is combined, fragmented, dislocated, suspended, disrupted, and penetrated, often in unpredictable ways. This approach to form suggests an eternalist model of time, whereby all possible events theoretically exist, while our ability to experience them is restricted to the present moment; thus, any given realization of An Unaware Cosmos is simply one of a potentially limitless number of ways to experience the work.
Performance/Broadcast History:
| Date | Venue | Location | Performer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 March 2024 | Friday Morning Musicale—Contemporary Art Music Project for CAMPGround24 (six modules) | Tampa, FL | Contemporary Art Music Project: Arda Cabaoğlu, piccolo trumpet; Sini Virtanen, violin; Sebastian Stefanovic, viola; Laura Usiskin, cello; Eunmi Ko, piano; Kevin von Kampen, percussion |
| 18 March 2022 | Ball State University Sursa Hall—The 21st Century Guitar conference (five modules) | Muncie, IN | Ball State University New Music Ensemble |
| 13 May 2019 | Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (four modules) | Brno, Czechia | JAMU student and faculty performers, with guest artists Heidi Dietrich Klein (voice) and Richard Shuster (piano) |
| 11 May 2019 | Liszt Academy of Music (“Unweaving a Rainbow”) | Budapest, Hungary | Eszter Krulik, violin; Richard Shuster, piano |
| 7 April 2019 | FUGA Center of Architecture (“Unweaving a Rainbow”) | Budapest, Hungary | Eszter Krulik, violin; Richard Shuster, piano |
| 28 October 2018 | Southern Methodist University, Caruth Auditorium (six modules) | Dallas, TX | International Contemporary Ensemble: Pala Garcia, violin; Katinka Kleijn, violoncello; Daniel Lippel, guitar; Nuiko Wadden, harp; Jacob Greenberg, piano/harpsichord; Nathan Davis, percussion |
| 27 October 2018 | University of North Texas, Voertman Concert Hall (six modules) | Denton, TX | International Contemporary Ensemble: Pala Garcia, violin; Katinka Kleijn, violoncello; Daniel Lippel, guitar; Nuiko Wadden, harp; Jacob Greenberg, piano/harpsichord; Nathan Davis, percussion |
| 26 October 2018 | University of North Texas, Murchison Performing Arts Center Winspear Hall (complete cycle) | Denton, TX | International Contemporary Ensemble, Mélange Saxophone Quartet, Nova Ensemble, UNT faculty and student performers |
| 28 November 2017 | University of North Texas (five modules) | Denton, TX | Nova Ensemble |
| 21 October 2015 | Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (eight modules) | Brno, Czechia | Joseph Klein, JAMU student ensembles |
| 18 March 2014 | University of North Texas (three modules) | Denton, TX | Joseph Klein, UNT faculty and student ensembles |