Traces

for percussion ensemble

1974

10 minutes

Premiere: University of Illinois, April 10, 1974
University of Illinois Percussion Ensemble
Randall Shinn, conductor
Colleen Mulvill, choreographer
Michelle Girardin, Debra Loewen, Bonnie Schmidt, dancers

[Withdrawn. Not available for performance]

Composer notes: I enjoyed composing this piece. I admired the work of the choreographer and the three dancers. And Tom Siwe, director of the University of Illinois percussion ensemble, had kindly invited me to write a work for 10 percussionists and a stage full of instruments.

For this work I created an active stasis by composing layers of differently subdivided rhythms that created busy textures, and which also obscured the sense of pulse. This resulted in an atmosphere well-suited to Colleen’s dance choreography.

But judging the work solely as music, I longed for more audible pulse and kinetic energy. And in future years I moved decisively toward kinetic rhythms. [See Passion and Pulse.]