The conductor stands in front of the orchestra, ready to begin. As they raise their hands, they are greeted by dozens of pairs of eyes lighting up – each one unique and slightly different like the musicians they belong to, but so many that, like molecules of water, they begin to blend into an ocean, as the sound of an individual is supposed to blend into the collective of the orchestra. However, there is yet another reason for the heightened anticipation of this specific moment – the musicians do not know which of them will be chosen, who will be the recipient of the conductor’s proverbial casting of a stone into the water – who will initiate a ripple in the ocean of eyes. Is it the conductor who holds all the power in this moment? Perhaps, but once the ripple begins it is quite literally out of their hands. Each musician enters a few seconds after they hear one of their neighbors begin playing, each with their own idiosyncratic version of the music, at their own speed, on their own instrument, with their own interpretation, infused by their unique personality, in a way that no other member of the orchestra can, using that which no conductor or composer can control – their artistic voice. Soon the entire orchestra joins the ripple, and we stop hearing each voice, and start hearing a sea of sound. The conductor reaches their arms across and around the sea, pushing the water – and the ocean responds, each part of it in their own way, as individual, as collective, as one, as many, and completely controlled by no one.
This is a piece about questioning, dialoguing with, and challenging aspects of the relationships between the composer, conductor, orchestra, and individual musicians – a play of agency, control, freedom, and choice, tumbling through ripples, imitations, droplets, games, waves, thunderclaps, and cascades. At times the conductor asserts control and plays the orchestra like a giant instrument, panning between different sonic landscapes, improvising hits and swells, and starting ripples. At other times the orchestra wrests control away from them and from the composer, as the individual musicians decide who is going to play the next melody, or when they will enter, or just how loud that next tam-tam hit will be.
Specific instrumentation details are on the second page of the score.
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