Work
Noumena
for orchestra
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About
The title of this work refers to an object beyond our phenomenal experience of it. Throughout the piece, listeners are presented with two musical ideas: a cloud-like micropolyphony, and a collection of harmonically rich sustained chords. However, both ideas are defined by an absence; neither idea achieves a stable equilibrium with the other, and neither ever commands the full focus of the orchestra. Consequently, the two ideas are locked in an ever-evolving relationship: never in direct contact, yet always absorbed in each other’s existence. While negotiating space, the two ideas simultaneously reveal their hidden qualities while also hinting at a deeper world of activity underneath.
Commissioned note
Commissioned through the Jenny McLeod Prize for Orchestral Composition
Performance history
08 Oct 2013: Performed by the New Zealand School of Music Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Young, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington.