Dichotomie

2000 (18 minutes)

Composed for: Solo Keyboard(s)

First performed: Lauri Kilpiö, UNM Festival, Helsinki, 18 August 2000 (2nd movement as Spin I) First performance: Gloria Cheng, Green Umbrella Series, Los Angeles, 4 December 2000 (both movements)

Instrumentation: piano

Salonen: ‘Dichotomie was originally intended to become a short encore-type of piece. I wanted to write a surprise new work for Gloria Cheng for a concert dedicated to my music in Los Angeles in January 2000. I soon realised, that the material I had invented had a tendency to grow into two very different kinds of music. It became obvious that this was going to be a longer piece in two movements as the material seemed to have that sort of genetic code. I missed my deadline for the January concert, and kept working during the early months of the year 2000. I put the piece aside for the summer, and finally completed it in October of the same year.

The first movement, Mécanisme, is indeed like a machine, but not a perfect one: more like one of the Tinguely sculptures (or mobiles, they really defy all attempts to categorise them), which are very active, extroverted and expressive, but produce nothing concrete. I imagined a machine that could feel some sort of joie de vivre, and in that process, i.e. becoming human, would loose its cold precision. Organisme (originally a separate piece Spin I), the second movement, behaves very differently. Again, the music is busy on the surface, but breathes a lot slower and deeper. The music is completely continuous; all different sections grow into each other organically. A metaphor I had in mind was indeed a tree, not a huge one, more like a slender willow that moves gracefully in the wind but returns always to its original shape and position.’

Published by: Chester Music Limited

Copyright: Esa-Pekka Salonen

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