five foci

for wind quintet

Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

five foci
for wind quintet Instrumentation: flute (doubling Piccolo) oboe (doubling Cor Anglais) clarinet in Bb (doubling A clarinet and bass clarinet) horn in F bassoon The score is transposed (clarinet sounds a major 2nd lower than written, bass clarinet sounds a major 9th lower than written, and the horn sounds a 5th lower than written). Duration: about 6 minutes

Program Note
In this wind quintet I tried to explore both writing music down on paper as a way to compose music (I.e. taking a principal part in affecting the composition itself other than just being a medium for writing my ideas down on paper) and the timbral soundscape that the diverse instruments of the wind quintet can produce. The pieces can be performed in any order (the listing below is alphabetical). hauraton is a piece focusing on musical materials. Each instrument's line in the first section is derived from materials I took from other scores (such as Varese's Density 21.5, a Bach cantata and many others). I wrote down the musical phrases I wanted to use (some of them famous passages for the instruments, some others not), distilled them in rhythms and pitches, and then after studying them and assimilating them, I wrote out the lines of the instruments by using various pitch and rhythmic material from what I had gathered, but used and mixed in an intuitive way. From the second section onwards, some instruments' lines remain exactly the same, some change slightly (i.e. using same rhythmic material but different pitch material, by moving all pitches one step to the left, by moving all rhythms one step to the right etc), and one of the parts changes drastically (and remains like that until the end of the piece, or is changed slightly), until all instruments (last one being the flute) have changed their line. The last section was written completely intuitively, but is of course influenced by the materials I used in the previous piece.

kaleidophone is a piece which focuses on the various sounds each of the wind quintet instruments can produce. The number of seconds before the texts is the amount of time the players have to wait before starting to perform their activity/activities. The players start all together, and as soon as any one of the players hits their stand or stamps their foot on the ground loudly, they move on to the next box. narcosis () means anaesthesia in Greek, and it's the title of a piano piece I wrote in 2007. To write this wind quintet movement, I focused on three seconds from the recording of the piece and played them reversed and transcribed down the pitches.. That passage consists of just ten notes, which are held over (in the original version) to form a sustained chord. So in the reversed version, it's notes that form a chord and then dissolve, moving on to the next one and then to silence (going backwards). The piece is performed by playing the first panel for the duration indicated, taking breaths freely (but as seamlessly as possible), and the players are given a secondary note to which they can jump for a few seconds before returning to their main note. All secondary notes are primary notes of other instruments, thus creating a constant flux of dove-tailing, which depends on the players and their listening of the others playing. omega focuses on a fundamental aspect of wind playing breathing. It is also an attempt to see how the parts can be more than the whole (i.e. the idea that there is no score for a particular piece, but only parts and the music is generated through the performance of each individual part). The players choose one of the notes of each segment and play it at the dynamic indicated for as long as they can. Then, they remain silent for half that duration before they play the next one. In the last section, they just produce breath sounds. The piece is called omega because in this piece, the beginning is going to be more or less the same, but it is the ending that is more important, because that's when the main differences between each player will show (in terms of how long one can hold their breath). parathyra () means windows in Greek, and I used this title in the piece because there is constant material that runs through each instrument and I have chosen when this material will be audible or not. This piece focuses on a simple function (that of opening and closing windows) that is applied in this constantly running musical material. Apart from opening windows to the material, I also froze some of the material (by sustaining the last note until the next one), freezing more and more lines until in the end all the lines are almost static.

ii

hauraton focus on materials

coldly, but different each time ( q = 72-81 )

Flute

& 3 # 8
1

4 # J 8 4 8 4 8 4 8

. # # J

5 8

. #

. #

j
3

Cor Anglais

3 & 8 # # &3 8 b

play softly together with the others

5 8
3

. #
3

play softly together with the others

Clarinet in B b

n J

5 8

Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis #. n . 3 4 # # 8 4 3 F . . 3 4 8 4 3

b b .
3

b # J

3 8 3 8 3 8

4 4 4 4 4 4

b J

Horn in F

& 3 . 8

Bassoon

5 # 8 b . b play softly together with the others ? 3 . J 4 5 8 8 8 #

3

play softly together with the others

# . #
5

play softly together with the others

Fl.

& a
7

b #

6 8

n J

. . . N F #

Cor. A.

& & &

F 6 8 6 . 8 6 8 b b #

4 #. 8 # 4 8 . 4 # 8 4 8

U
o

B b Cl.

J
o

j
o

Hn.

Bsn.

#. ?

. . j3
o

j # b

3"

b.

6 J 8

4 8

five foci - hauraton (focus on materials)

Fl.

&3 8
12

# # J

# 4 J 8 4 8 4 8 4 8

5 8

Cor. A.

3 & 8 b 3 &8 b

5 8 R
3 3

j b

# j #

3 8

4 4

#.
3

b j #

B b Cl.

n J

5 8

b J . .

. b 3 8 n 3 8 j 3 8

3 8 .

4 j 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

b J

Hn.

&3 8 ? 3 . 8 N

3 5 j 8 b #

stand out of the others, but not too much louder

Bsn.

4 8
3

b J

5 8

.
5

18

Fl.

& &

#
3

Cor. A.

6 8

. . N j . #

b 6 J 8 6 . 8 6 8

4 8 4 . 8 . 4 # 8 4 8

. # R

b n J
o
3

# # U
o

(to oboe)

B b Cl.

& & ? #

J
o

Hn.

4"

Bsn.

b.

6 8 J

4 8

j3
o

five foci - hauraton (focus on materials)

Fl.

&3 8
23

# #

# 4 J 8 4 8

J n J

5 8

Ob.

& 3 . 8 &3 8 b J

# J

5 8 5 8 b

b j b

# .

3 8

b 3 J 8 3 8 .

4 4 4 4 4 4

#.
3

j
3

n J
3

stand out of the others, but not too much louder

B b Cl.

4 8 4 8

b J . .

b J b .
5 3

3 3

Hn.

&3 8 ? 3 . 8 N

Bsn.

4 8 b
3

3 5 j 8 # n

5 8

j 3 8 j 3 8 b n J
o
3

4 . 4 4 # 4

29

Fl.

& &

Ob.

m 6 8 . k 6 8
3

. n m

m J J

4 8 4 8

# # U
o

J
o

B b Cl.

& & ?

N # .
3

6 . 8 6 8 j

. 4 # 8 4 8

Hn.

Bsn.

6 J 8

4 8

1"

J
3

4
Fl.

five foci - hauraton (focus on materials)

# &3 8
34

4 # 8 4 # 8

# n J J
3 3

# 5 J 8 5 8 5 8
3

J . b .

j #

#. #.

3 8

. b

4 4 4 4 4 4

. n #.
3

Ob.

& 3 . 8 &3 8 b b J

# 3 8 J 3 8 .

# b J

j
3

n J
3

B b Cl.

4 8 4 8

Hn.

&3 8 . ?3 8

Bsn.

stand out of the others, but not too much louder

4 8 F

5 j 8 # n 5 8 J

b .

#J .

n.

F J 4 # 8 J 4 8 4 8 # . 4 8

j b . F

j 3 8 j 4 . 4 3 j 8 J f b
o

b j3

4 #. 4
U
o

40

Fl.

& &

#
3

6 8 6 8

# J # j
3

Ob.

J .

# J

j
o
3

B b Cl.

& b & ? N

6 8 6 8

3"

Hn.

F
3

Bsn.

6 j 8 # F

b.

4 8

. R
o

five foci - hauraton (focus on materials)

Fl.

# &3 8
45

4 # 8 4 8 4 8 4 8 4 8

# n J J j
3

# 5 J 8 5 8 5 8 .

J #

Ob.

& 3 # 8 & 3 #. 8 3 & 8 .

# J b J
3

n b

#. J j J

3 8

4 4 b J j f J
3

. n
3

j3 b

B b Cl.

3 8 . 3 J 8 3 8 j 3 8

4 4 #. # 4 J 4
3

n J
3

stand out of the others, but not too much louder

Hn.

Bsn.

. ?3 8
3

# J

3 5 j 8 #

. n.

5 8 J .

F J

j b .

4 4 4 #. 4
U
o

j3

51

Fl.

&

#
3

Ob.

& & &

6 8 6 8 6 8

# J J j . .

B b Cl.

4 # 8 J 4 8 4 8 4 8
3

j3

# J
3

Hn.

6 8 F 6 j 8 # F

. b.

5"

Bsn.

4 8

. R
o

five foci - hauraton (focus on materials)

Fl.

& 3 . 8
56

4 8 4 8 4 8 4 8

# J J
3

5 8 5 8 5 8 .

# J

. b J . J

3 8

Ob.

& 3 . 8 & 3 #. 8 &3 8 . ?3 8

3 J 8 3 J 8 3 8 j 3 8

B b Cl.

b J
3

b J

4 4 . 4 4 4 4 4 4

n J
3

# n J J
3 3

Hn.

Bsn.

4 8 F # J
3

3 5 j 8 b #

. n.

# J n J

5 8 J .

F . J

j b n . F

j f
3

4 #. 4

j3

62

Fl.

& & &

6 8 6 8 6 8 6 8

# J J

#
3

4 8 J 4 8 4 8
3

Ob.

B b Cl.

# J
3

J j

. . b.

j #

Hn.

& ?

4 8 4 8

3"

Bsn.

6 j 8 # F

. R
o

narcosis
Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

flute

0:10

0:45

0:50

1:10

&

&

& b

&

& b

as softly as possible

as softly as possible

(the piece lasts approximately 1:30)

narcosis
Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

Oboe

0:03

0:55

0:60

1:25

& b

& b

&
&

b
.

&

as softly as possible

as softly as possible

(the piece lasts approximately 1:30)

narcosis
Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

Bb Clarinet
0:35

0:01

0:40

1:05

& b

&

&

& b
& b

&

as softly as possible

as softly as possible

(the piece lasts approximately 1:30)

narcosis
Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

Horn in F

0:17

1:00

1:04

1:20

&

& b

&

&

&

as softly as possible

as softly as possible

(the piece lasts approximately 1:30)

narcosis
Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis

Bassoon

0:10

0:50

0:58

1:30

b
.

B b

as softly as possible

as softly as possible

(the piece lasts approximately 1:30)

Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis b 4 J j Flute &4 b. . b F f # . . # . . 4 b # # # # r . # # # . b b . # .. R R Oboe &4 .. . . p F p p p w . 4 J J J Bass Clarinet &4 3 p p P P b j 3 3 ?4 b # n j J # Horn in F 4 & J 3 3 3 3 3 3 p P 3 p3 p 3 b b b . b B4 J J J JJ . R J J Bassoon 4 3 p p p A 7 # b J j j J Fl. & J b p p F # . . ...... # # r . # b b .. . . . . . . r R b R Ob. & . . . . . . p . f F F p w J B. Cl. & 3 p P 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 b b j3 b j j j Hn. & # n b b p P 3 F 3 p p f 3 b b BJ ? J J b J Bsn. J p p p p F

q =72

parathyra
J
o

* time signatures and barlines do not imply pulsation or accents; they serve merely as an aid to synchronize the performers.

2 13
Fl.

parathyra

& & &

Ob.

B. Cl.

Hn.

&
3

# # # . . . . . # # b b n ... . R F p p p J J J J 3 p F
o o o o

b f

b J f

b #

. #R # b . . R . p

b
3

Bsn.

b J

b J
5

J p j f
o

. b J 5 p . J p

b J R p

f J f b b b J 3 3 3 f 3p F3 p
o

b J J 3 p

19

Fl.

&

Ob.

B. Cl.

Hn.

# # . . . # # # # & f P j J J & 3 p p b b 3 ? J b j J 3 p 3 f f
o o

Bsn.

3 ? j p

. r b f

#. . . J R p p f P . . 3 p j3b b J & 3 3 3 p 3 p F j r . r b . b
o

. b

f # R p J

j
o

p p

j # # . f P J J 3 3 3 b j b J J 3 3 p F
o

f . b . b

. R F

j p

j j b

b p

parathyra
25

Fl.

J & & . & w p # f

Ob.

p J
o

P .
o

# J
o

j b F .

j r # f

p F
3

j
3

# p

J J p j J J

B. Cl.

Hn.

& ? j

j
3

j b p

j p

Bsn.

j b