Ypsilon, A Poem for Trumpet and Orchestra in Five Scenes
op. 83, 2020
For Trumpet and Orchestra
Duration: 35 min.
Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2. – 4.2.3.1., timpani, percussion (4), harp, piano, strings
Commissioned by the Grafenegg Festival
World premiere on 14 August 2020, Wolkenturm, Grafenegg, Austria
Orchestra: Tonkünstler Orchester
Soloist: Simon Höfele
Conductor: Konstantia Gourzi
ORF radio and television broadcasting
Composer´s Notes
The title “Ypsilon” is inspired by the Greek letter Y, which has several meanings. The most striking is the letter itself, which can also be seen as a person with arms stretched upwards. The translation of the word “Ypsilon” from Greek means “the High”, but also “to look at the High”.
The symbol Y has a strong effect on me and is a reminder to honor the higher dimension and at the same time to feel its connection to the earth and to ourselves. This energy inspired me to compose Ypsilon, A Poem for Trumpet and Orchestra in Five Scenes and the music tells the story.
When I started to write down the sketches of the piece in 2019 and composed the first notes immediately afterwards, I had planned a different concept for the course of the composition than it turned out to be. I was already in the middle of the composition process when the corona pandemic started, when the lockdowns of the corona phase and the other restrictions forced us to behave differently than before. I realized how my ideas and thoughts were changing and taking me in a different direction than I had planned. Fundamental questions about life and music resurfaced again, and I urgently searched within myself for new answers of existence and art. An even stronger longing than usual for melody, rhythm, sounds and their simplicity accompanied me intensely. The different moods, a new musical dramaturgy, playing chamber music in an orchestra, silence and the contradictory sounds were urgently seeking a union within me.
A poem of notes, about the coexistence of different sounds, musical styles and about the memory that everything is one and can exist together, was created as a result. This is how the dramaturgy of the musical poem unfolded with the five scenes of Ypsilon.
In Ypsilon, the solo instrument is the bearer of various statements that become noticeable throughout the piece with different musical elements – as they express themselves sometimes subtle, sometimes leading, sometimes flattering and sometimes explosive. The orchestra acts, reacts, comments, stimulates and thus constantly enters into a new sonic union with the soloist. The composition flows between the scenes with short pauses for suspense and sounds as if the sonic events of Y are being told like a story under a common arc.
Ypsilon, A Poem for Trumpet and Orchestra in Five Scenes begins with a solo in the trumpet – like a cadenza, like a signal. The orchestra sings and plays in a calm but intense mood and both together move between calls, lullabies and blues. A short improvisational mood by the first percussionists after the specified elements then characterizes one of the quiet passages.
The second scene sounds like an intense dialog between the explosive rhythmic elements of the orchestra and the cadences of the soloist, which are described as a speech between the orchestral groups. Rhythmic elements, which are distributed in different groups, recur and each time they sound more intense than the previous time.
The third scene builds up more and more of an atmospheric mood and serves as an intense echo of the second scene and at the same time as a sound bridge to the next scene. Here the groups of the orchestra also perform as soloists, reacting to the overall sound that is created in a chamber music style – playing predetermined elements and also shaping them themselves individually. This influences the mood of the composition and creates an individual, new sound combination and tension in each performance. The role of the conductor in this scene is to balance the overall mood and coordinate the performances of the various groups and their silencing.
In the fourth scene, new, strongly melodic-rhythmic elements appear and create a characteristic, accentuated dance, which is reminiscent of a slightly jazzy character due to the frequent changes of beat. The soloist acts and reacts explosively and is partly free to decide on the dramaturgical design, the sequence of phrases and the combination and repetition of the given patterns.
The fifth scene has the final character of a complete echo, a transformation: a new signal, which differs from the one at the beginning of the work, unites with the orchestra. The result is a final, simple, short dialog between the percussionist and the soloist, like a question and answer. In this scene, it is desired that the audience also takes on a singing role, which the conductor indicates to the audience and leads them. The conductor decides whether this action is possible and appropriate. The singing action for the audience seemed necessary to me in this composition, because therefore the stage and the audience unite to experience something together. The singing only lasts a short time, but the emotional and unifying experience can last a very long time.
The recurring attitude of the self-styled solo voice – also in this part – depends on the soloist and how they realize it. The dialog between soloist and orchestra should remain lively from beginning to end.
The piece concludes with an atmospheric, unexpected tonal openness to provide space for resonance, reflection and empathy.