1st Orchestra Discovery Session - Composition Diary - Boris Bruchhaus

Today, we have a look at Boris Bruchhaus' piece Aotearoa that he wrote for our first Orchestra Discovery Session back in September.

We had a lengthy exchange over several versions of this piece of which all are attached at the bottom of the post, including the final score/recording/Dorico file.

Here's Boris' documentation about the piece. Below you will find the exchange that we had about the piece in its different stages.

We lived 4 years in Wellington, New Zealand, so I wanted to write a piece that takes us on a journey through that beautiful country. I didnt have a specific form in mind but just wanted to "travel" through the country, a bit like Smetana's Moldau.

I wrote the piece in StaffPad on an iPad Pro using Berlin WoodWinds. The performance, interactivity and especially the ability to write anywhere was quite impressive.

The piece starts with a peaceful sunrise - a bit like seeing the island for the first time like the Maori did when they discovered New Zealand:

 After that the piece starts to travel through windy and wet landscapes. I wanted to create some swirly motion like a small stream meandering through the rocks, so I gave the flute and clarinet fast moving and intersecting 16th-sextole lines.

While writing the fast lines I made sure to put in enough little rests so the players have a chance to breath (offsetted to make it less noticable). I was quite impressed how well these lines were performed during the session.

The swirly movement comes to a rest reaching a first little climax in bar 22, kind of climbing up a mountain to get a better view. After that the piece really starts its journey as if someone starts to walk exploring the landscapes passing by. I wanted to emphasize that with a steady rhythm, starting in bar 26. A noticable shift in tone is happening from bar 49 on where we change from 4/4 to 6/8. The triplic-rhythmic motor throughout the instruments represents the famous Maori Haka-dance, performed today usually by rugby-players in New Zealand, trying to scare off the enemy before a game.

As we had to limit our piece (for obvious reasons) to 2 minutes length the piece quickly wraps up its journey by bringing back the lively motive from the beginning in the flute from bar 57 on, leading into the ending.

It took some iterations to find a plausible ending while not exceeding the given length too much. Robin gave some very valuable feedback supporting that effort.

I've never written a woodwind-quintet before so this exercise was a great way for me to explore that territory. I'm very grateful that it got recorded by those amazing musicians and also want to thank Robin for organizing all that. It was a great experience.

Here's the exchange that I had with Boris about his piece:

Version 1:

Very nice piece, I really like the general tone and the direction that you are taking it. I agree that the ending feels a bit unfinished and could use some work.

There are a few things in the piece that will be problematic in the recording. The flute and clarinet runs starting at bar 11 are too extensive and don't allow to sneak in a breath anywhere. Additionally I feel like they are melodically a little too much "noodling around". I would recommend breaking them in phrases that make a melodic sense and allow for a breath. In fact, right now I would say that they are not really executable. Also in that passage, I would switch around flute and clarinet, right now the clarinet is higher than the flute and moves in the relatively high and more strained sounding register while the flute in that register would remain way more fluid and brillant. Of course that could be an intentional effect but if you move the clarinet into a strained register and the flute into a "relaxed mid register" as they are right now, the texture communicates a bit mixed message. Similar problem regarding breaths at 57 onwards which I also feel a bit too noodly.

From 26 onwards, there is a similar problem happening in the horn which doesn't get a chance to breathe and I feel that the line that you wrote for it is not really that idiomatic for horn (or brass in general). It shouldn't cause a problem in performance (besides the lack of breath) but I feel that you might be able to find a more suitable role for the horn. I think for instance switching around horn and bassoon in that passage is more idiomatic for both.

In bar 30 onwards, I'm not entirely sure if that is intentional but the mid-high register in the bassoon (and oboe) vs the low register in the clarinet creates a bit of an energy disparity between these instruments.

I'm not sure if that is an issue in the Midi but I think the passage from 26 onwards should not be notated in a 4/4 but rather 2x 6/8 followed by a 4/8 and repeat (analogue to the Bsn rhythm) and the passage starting at 49 should be notated as a 6/8 and not with these triplets. These two changes will greatly improve the performance as they will be way more in line with what the music is doing in regards of accents.

Again also in 49: Horn not super idiomatic. Large intervall leaps, starting unprepared in the high register, I think it would be more beneficial to write that line more idiomatic.

At the current state, I would say that your piece is unneccessarily tricky and the effect that you are after could be achieved through easier ways with more idiomatic writing. In spite of having excellent players, this would still need a few takes to get to a usable state.

Hope that all makes sense, let me know if you have any questions.

Version 2:

very nice. The piece has improved quite a bit. I'm still not sold on the end, it feels weirdly superimposed and very abrupt, maybe there is a way to make it a bit more plausible.

Other than that, as you are not coming to Prague you need to be extra careful with notation and to make sure that everything is notated in the way that you want them. There are a lot of things that need fixing in the score but as I guess that this is a work in progress notation, I'll wait until you have prepared the proper notation. But as I said, be really specific with the notation when you prepare it so there are no questions left that we might not be able to answer on ypour behalf :)

Looking forward to the next version!

Version 3:

Boris: Hey Robin,

here‘s a quick update. As I am already on our time-cap with 2:15 min I can‘t add any new bars I think. But I was able to work on the transistion itself, making it hopefully a bit smoother.

Let me know if that works better. If not I have to make more drastic changes with that ending.

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Robin: Hi Boris,

thanks for the update. I'm still not sold on the ending, it feels like a drop of rhythmical energy and that last crescendo+hit still feels like it is just "attached" to the piece. The whole ending doesn't really feel conclusive to me.

I don't want to force you through too many revision loops and if you're happy with it then we can record as is but personally for me, I don't hear this as a plausible ending for the piece.

Version 4:

Hey Robin,

here are 2 new possible endings, similar in the fact that they introduce the (new) tonic earlier, so it feels more like a proper resolution. Both versions also don‘t introduce anymore any new material but re-use existing motifs which also might help sell the resolution. The minor difference between version 06 and 07 is in the transition to the ending tonic.

I‘m happy to iterate further if needed (before running out of time of course) - its a good challenge (keeping it below 2:15min).

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Hi Boris,

thank you for the update. I think that is better. Personally I prefer v 06 over 07. If you want to experiment more with the ending feel free. I still think there is some room for improvement and bringing it more smoothly to a logical conclusion as I still feel like the last two bars are a bit "out of the blue". But I general it works much better than the versions before.