#onceim

The piece, written for ONCEIM, is built from a list of 180 events consisting of vocal whispers, slow scales for solo instruments, improvisations, use of objects (rustling bags, cans in a cardboard box), instrumental colors and duos of noise. In the score, Ablinger notes that “theoretically the montage of the score is a version or a suggestion or a starting point. theoretically everything could be re-arranged, shortened, extended, while the general idea - density, horizontal and vertical collage - remains similar.” The 30-minute piece is scored for 28 performers with instrumentation for clarinets, saxophones, trumpet and euphonium, accordion, piano, electric guitar, string players, electronics and percussionists, providing basic structures coordinated through a central clock. Ablinger specifically stipulates the piece should not be directed by a central conductor, leaving open options for the ensemble during performance within specified parameters. Detailed notes are available on Ablinger’s site here.  

Starting with quiet murmurs, drum rolls, and fractured reed lines, the ensemble traverses the 30 minutes with aplomb. Sonic events appear, snippets of melodies and fragments of scales float in and out, all woven in to the score’s  “horizontal and vertical collage.” A key element that emerges is the lack of differentiation between non-tonal texture which Ablinger refers to in the score notes specifically as noise, tonal color, and melodic line. Little flurries of solo voices emerge for a moment and then are quickly subsumed into the encompassing whole. But even in short duration, these statements are striking breaks in the overall ensemble textures.  

The members of ONCEIM balance the score-based instructions and improvisation with steadfast assuredness allowing the piece to hold together so well, never devolving into episodic shambles. Their keen balance of density and volume is also critical to the success of the piece. Sections may burst forth with forceful energy while others are introduced at an almost subliminal level, only to emerge as other events subside. This is particularly evident in short canons that occur throughout the piece, where the low strings play off of each other in countervailing rising glissandos. The chatter and hum of voices, always with words or meaning veiled to create what Ablinger notes as “a continuous fabric,” provides an undercurrent that supplies a persistent thread. The ending of the piece occurs as various subgroupings complete their events, decisively unwinding density as progressive layers subside until insistent percussive patterns and the chatter of voices bring the piece to a riveting close.