Ryan Chase

1(+picc)1111(asax) - 1000 - 2 perc, prep pno, hp - 2110

Composer's Note:

I am troubled by the state of the world and the general "post-truthiness" of things.  Babel is the latest in a series of large ensemble pieces composed as coded responses to current events.  The amorphous, brittle textures are a product of our uncertain present: I wanted to sonify the paranoia and disquietude characterizing the current moment.  I wanted to give a voice to the anxieties of my students, my colleagues, friends, and family.

A sonata form shattered upon recapitulation, most of the musical material is derived from a microtonal cantus that shrinks the diatonic scale to the span of a minor third. Rhythmicized as a garish ostinato on the piccolo, I was thinking about the evolution of marching bands from institutionally-sanctioned sounding boards to megaphones for civil disobedience.  Babel is dedicated to Francesca Zambello.  Words are real.  How we respond to them is real, too.