Living Toys
Encyclopedia
Living Toys Op.9 is a composition for chamber ensemble by English composer Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...

. It was written in 1994 as a part of his MPhil portfolio in Composition at Cambridge University and premiered at the Barbican Hall in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 under Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen CBE is a British composer and conductor.-Biography:Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra. Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert, between 1963 and 1969 and also received...

.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a chamber ensemble of 14 players, which consists of: Flute (doubling Piccolo), Oboe (doubling Cor Anglais and Sopranino Recorder), Clarinet (doubling Clarinet in E flat and Bass Clarinet), Bassoon (doubling Contrabassoon), French Horn (doubling whip), Trumpet (doubling Piccolo trumpet), Trombone, Percussion, Piano, Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass.

Ades makes use of a wide variety of timbral colours available. Often this involves players using extended techniques, such as the double bass player and pianist hitting the back of their instruments.

Structure

The work is divided into five main sections, with three additional parts whose names are anagrams of each other.

1: Angels: The opening of the piece involves a horn solo over which glittering, ethereal figures are played on high woodwinds, gongs and string harmonics.

2: Aurochs: Inspired by a now-extinct bull of humongous size. The Aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

 was a cattle native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. This section of the piece evokes a bullfight, with members of the ensemble (including the conductor) clapping along to frantic castanets which accompany bass clarinet, bassoon, trombone, cello and bass.

BALETT: A long, smooth melody unwinds over more shimmering accompaniment. BALETT ends with a tutti B natural.

3: Militiamen: This section is mainly a soli for the piccolo trumpet and percussion. The trumpet plays a carefully calculated jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

-inspired solo whilst the rest of the ensemble provide big-band interjections. The music builds and ends with a short tutti figure. The oboe has a short, sharp rising figure which pushes the music forward to the next part.

4: H.A.L.'s Death : In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

, the on-board computer was referred to as 'Hal'. Near the end of the film when Hal is deactivated, he is heard to be singing the song Daisy Bell
Daisy Bell
"Daisy Bell" is a popular song with the well-known chorus "Daisy, Daisy/Give me your answer do/I'm half crazy/all for the love of you" as well as the line "...a bicycle built for two".-History:"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892...

. Here, Adès replays the song using the contrabassoon, double bass and other low-sounding instruments over sustained chords. The quote is incredibly well disguised, and features a prominent solo for the Sopranino Recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...

.

BATTLE: Fast, technical passagework for every player and frequent time changes create a frenzied atmosphere.

5: Playing Funerals: A climax of the piece, where all the music before it degenerates into complete dissonance
Dissonance
Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity:*Consonance and dissonance in music are properties of an interval or chord*Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental conflict...

. The music unwinds and settles in to a slow tempo, where subtle changes of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...

and register transform the colour of the music.

TABLET: This is the concluding section of the composition. It consists of haunting chords played in the strings and winds, with the gongs from earlier creating a lifeless sound. The piece finishes with 3 final splashes of colour, before the horn and violin fade into nothing.

Recordings

London Sinfonietta with Markus Stenz: (From Amazon.com)

External links

Information on Living Toys at Faber Music can be found here
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