Fantasy on Vibrating G Strings

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Orchestral Score (PDF, 992 KB, 12 pages including cover)

Parts for 14 instruments: (usually one or two pages, 80 to 200 kB each) :

• flute
• oboe
• clarinet
• bassoon
• trumpet
• trombone
• vibraphone
• harp
• piano
• violin 1
• violin 2
• viola
• violoncello
• double bass

approx 4 minutes.

midi file (68 kB, please be patient for a new web page to load the sound!)
Note: this midi version is much longer than actual because there's glitch in my music software. It repeated a huge section from the beginning! I spent ages trying to troubleshoot it --- but couldn't! Yikes!

mp3 file (3.6 MB) live recording of ensemble, Small Concert Hall of the Vredenburg UTrecht 10th February 2006

Note: I learned a lot from this project --- there are mistakes in the scores which I must correct. When I have time, I will correct them. Until then, I will work on my next piece. 20 February 2006

This 4 minute piece evolved quickly from my initial idea of having only 4 instruments (oboe, French horn, harp, and cello) to one of 14 instruments. French horn was not on the list --- apparently we have no French horn players. I changed the part to fit a tenor trombone.

Since I've never written for harp, oboe, or trombone, I consulted several players I met at the conservatory. The idea of having only four players came from my initial title "Four Play on a G String." I wrote the piece as a prelude, to end on a magnificent unresolved chord --- as any foreplay would.

The "kiasoo" mentality (to make use of everything given, not to lose out, to optimise) pushed me to make use of all instruments available in the ensemble. At this point (mid December 2005) I was still unwilling to give up the idea of those four instruments playing a special role.

Filling in the parts was what my composition and arranging teacher Henk Alkema, who conducted the piece, called "the art of doubling." Since I had never written for such a large ensemble (my largest being the Ostinatrio for three recorders), I was rather shy in doubling or indeed making full use of colour. Chiel Meijering said that the challenge I faced was that of instrumentation. How that was different from orchestration I had not a clue.

When the Amsterdam-based composer Allan Segall informed me that "Four Play" had already been used by another composer --- or indeed used before, I decided to drop that from the title. The lengthy pun on Bach's Air on the G String started to sound corny. I shortened it but kept the walking bass.

On Monday 19th December 2005, two days before it was due, I wrote a correct additive variable ostinato for my assignment for composition analysis class for Jurrien Sligter, a classmate of Chiel Meijering who both studied under the late Ton de Leeuw. Encouraged by the positive feedback of Jurrien (given that I had tried to write one for weeks!) I decided to integrate that into the piece despite that it would eventually take an entire day, those precious 24 hours I needed to pack and get ready for an eleven hour flight for a 2.5 week holiday!

Why the title "Fantasy on Vibrating G Strings" ? Google it and see for yourself. The assignment for this composition project was to write something under 5 minutes to do with the theme of "Sex in the City."

The title itself is rather innocent. There have been plenty of fantasies and fantasias in classical music. To make a sound, a string has to vibrate. My piece made use of G and variations of the G, such as G major scale, G7, G diminished, G minor, G dorian, and G pentatonic. Nothing to do with sex --- but we expect it nevertheless.