Flicker

Flicker is scored for chamber orchestra and is about 8 minutes in length. Inexhaustibly energetic throughout, the work’s orchestration may disorientate the listener, with music lines undergoing a constant fluctuation in timbre as they are dispersed between various instrumental groupings. I was also interested in trying to push to the limit the speed at which one could perceive such changes in colour. There is also an inherent fragility to the musical texture, at times in danger of dipping below the threshold of audibility. This aspect of the work, combined with the sudden ferocity of the various musical explosions in the piece, brought to mind the image of a flickering flame, capable of immense energy when igniting the correct material or being snuffed out by a sudden burst of air.

David Horne 1997

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