Lawrence Dillon

Trios for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon

Composer's Note:

Straddlers of the 20th and 21st centuries have witnessed a remarkable shift in human-made devices. For ages, contraptions have been devised and refined based on ancient principles: the lever, the gear, the axle. Now many of these mechanical artifacts have been replaced by digital, and still more operate in a hybrid universe, marrying mechanical and digital principles, sometimes awkwardly, sometime seamlessly.

Ten Wind Devices is a playful response to this technological balancing act. Each Device is scored for a different trio of winds; each runs about six minutes. All of them start with the same figure -- think of it as a simple tool, like a lever -- that triggers a series of transformations, sending each piece off in a different direction. Some of the transformations are familiar (action causing reaction), others follow more novel processes, ending up in distant environs, the clicks that take you where you least expected to go.