Holmes, Jeffrey: Ymir
for percussion quartet and guitar quartet (4PERC/4GTR)
Holmes, Jeffrey: Ymir
for percussion quartet and guitar quartet (4PERC/4GTR)
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About
When hearing that this commission for the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet was to come from the Laguna Beach Music Festival, I felt compelled to compose a piece about the Sea.? My original connection between the Laguna Beach Music Festival's request for a new composition, and the continuing themes in my work of nature, life, death, and the realities of Scandinavian myths and fantastical Nordic landscapes came to me upon reading the following sentence from skald Ormr Barreyjarskald's Eddic poem?Sk?ldskaparm?l:
'Ymir' (or 'Aurgelmir', in the ancient dialect of the J?tnar, [Frost Giants]) was the first primordial being in Nordic religion, who played a key role in the formation of the Earth and Universe.? He was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers ?liv?gar.? Ymir had three sons...Vili, V?, and ??inn, and like many creation stories from various cultures around the world, the primordial being (Ymir in this instance) was killed by his sons (in some ways similar to the struggle between Kronos and Zeus in the Greek Mythos).? And from Ymir's blood, all the seas of the Earth were formed.
The unique ensemble of four percussionists and four guitarists are arranged and organized to evoke primitive, primordial sounds; the guitars are tuned micro-tonally from one another to create unusual timbres based on natural vibrations (ie, tuned to natural overtones, not in accordance with our familiar ?equal tempered? tuning system), and the percussion ensemble uses many unusual instruments, such as a cowhorn, bull-roarers, and various gongs and skinned drums?all of which have been in existence as musical instruments since the beginnings of ?human history.
Ymir is comprised of one continuous yet varied landscape, with many dramatic and textural shapes, that is divided into 10 sections or images:
I. Na?tta [Becoming Night]
II. Bla?r??gir [Blue-Black Sea]
III. F?rl?g [Journey of Fate]
IV. ?rum?i Vindr?[Thundering Wind]
V. Kaldr??oka [Freezing Mist]
VI. ?lfossa? [Turbulent Water]
VII. Uphiminn [The Sky, Heavens]
VIII. Hagl Ve?r [Hail Storm]
IX. Svell [Ice]
-. Hlj??r [Silence]
"?tan gn?r ? eyri Ymis bl?? fara g??ra."
[Out on the sea-bank of good vessels Ymir's blood roars.]
'Ymir' (or 'Aurgelmir', in the ancient dialect of the J?tnar, [Frost Giants]) was the first primordial being in Nordic religion, who played a key role in the formation of the Earth and Universe.? He was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers ?liv?gar.? Ymir had three sons...Vili, V?, and ??inn, and like many creation stories from various cultures around the world, the primordial being (Ymir in this instance) was killed by his sons (in some ways similar to the struggle between Kronos and Zeus in the Greek Mythos).? And from Ymir's blood, all the seas of the Earth were formed.
The unique ensemble of four percussionists and four guitarists are arranged and organized to evoke primitive, primordial sounds; the guitars are tuned micro-tonally from one another to create unusual timbres based on natural vibrations (ie, tuned to natural overtones, not in accordance with our familiar ?equal tempered? tuning system), and the percussion ensemble uses many unusual instruments, such as a cowhorn, bull-roarers, and various gongs and skinned drums?all of which have been in existence as musical instruments since the beginnings of ?human history.
Ymir is comprised of one continuous yet varied landscape, with many dramatic and textural shapes, that is divided into 10 sections or images:
I. Na?tta [Becoming Night]
II. Bla?r??gir [Blue-Black Sea]
III. F?rl?g [Journey of Fate]
IV. ?rum?i Vindr?[Thundering Wind]
V. Kaldr??oka [Freezing Mist]
VI. ?lfossa? [Turbulent Water]
VII. Uphiminn [The Sky, Heavens]
VIII. Hagl Ve?r [Hail Storm]
IX. Svell [Ice]
-. Hlj??r [Silence]
Contents
- Holmes, Jeffrey: Ymir
