…stretched across its axes [2024]

viola [45’]

Written for Marco Fusi. Composition commission from Musik der Jahrhunderte Stuttgart.

reactions

“Auf der nach allen Seiten offenen Skala der materialen, medialen und stilistischen Ausprägungen neuer Musik markiert der US-Amerikaner Timothy McCormack einen Extrempol an Reduktion. Sein Violasolo "…stretched across its axes" bewegt sich eine Dreiviertelstunde lang im Mikrobereich. Bratschist Marco Fusi führt den Bogen so longsam über die Saiten, das der üblicherweise kontinuierliche Ton wie unter Zeitlupe in einzelne Pulse zerfällt. Wie unterm Rastermikroskop hört man, dass das kolophonierte Rosshaar die Saite immer wieder ein Stückchen mitzieht und dann in die Ausgangslage zurückspringen lässt. Je nach Saite, Stelle, Druck und Tempo das Streichens bringt das periodische Rattern auf der mit allen Fasern resonierenden Viola feinste Nuancen und wechselnde Obertöne zum Schwingen. “ -Rainer Nonnenmann, Unausweichliche Zeitgenossenschaft in Neue Musikzeitung

Translation: “On the open-ended spectrum of material, medial, and stylistic manifestations in new music, the American composer Timothy McCormack marks an extreme pole of reduction. His solo viola piece, “…stretched across its axes,” operates within the micro-realm for three-quarters of an hour. Violist Marco Fusi draws the bow across the strings so slowly that the usually continuous tone—as if in slow motion—disintegrates into discrete pulses. As if under a scanning microscope, one hears the rosin-coated horsehair repeatedly dragging the string along a fraction of an inch before allowing it to snap back to its starting position. Depending on the specific string, contact point, pressure, and bowing speed, this periodic rattling—resonating through every fiber of the viola—sets the finest nuances and shifting overtones into vibration.”

program note

…stretched across its axes is interested in the tethers within a body, & the hemispheres across a body. It plots itself along the network of interconnected tendons, sinews, and ligaments that bind and convulse and constrict each other’s action. The viola is the body: press here to exact tension there; tighten there to sharpen vibration here. Touch the body, it responds. Listen to its song: a hidden, withdrawn counterpoint of tactility and sensation.