Musical Compositions

Mascarade Obscure (Obscure Masquerade)

21 Mascarade Obscure

Setting Prepared wind quintet mouth­piec­es.
Period of creation 2010-05-03 to 2010-06-07 (1st quintet version); 2013-05-30 to 2013-07-09 (2nd quintet version); 2014-02-28 to 2014-03-01 and 2016-02-08 and 2016-08-06 to 07 and 2016-08-30 to 2016-09-08 (3rd quintet version); 2019-02-04 to 27 (quartet version).
Title 1st version Scherzo Senza Strumenti (Scherzo Without Instruments) and Scherzo Silenzioso (Silent Scherzo).
Duration 8 min.
Commission / occasion 1st version: Commissioned by the Druskomanija Festival 2010 (Ltu).
2nd version: Commissioned by the festival Young Euro Classic 2013 in Berlin (Ger), funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (Ger).
3rd version: For the Esbjerg Ensemble (Den) and for the 48th International Summer Course for New Music 2016 in Darmstadt (Ger).
Publisher BabelScores.

The work Mascarade Obscure was inspired by dance rhythms of popular music from former and current centuries. By means of treatments like augmentation/diminution, permutation and modulation, these dance rhythms appear in diverse variations, forming a rhythmic texture with varying degrees of density, partly through polyphonic superpositions. In combination with instrumental noises, a musical form emerges that consists of three more animated and two contrasting calmer sections (A B A’ C A”).
I associate the sounding result with a courtly masquerade resp. with a traditional masked ball including all its imagination, sensuality and informality on the one hand and all its secretiveness and obscurity on the other hand.

1st version:
The main idea behind the piece is the classical confrontation of a lively and humorous or gro­tesque “Scherzo” against two calm and sonorous “Trios”, resulting in the form scheme A B A’ C A”.
Trio 1 presents a timbral development from multi-coloured air sounds to distorted squeaking noises. In Trio 2, the sound lay­ers of the quintet grow more and more multi-voiced, until the soloistic, almost melodic elements of the flute (later also clarinet and bas­soon) take over power and conclude the trio in a pitched but sizzling climax. The enframing Scherzos investigate different char­ac­ters and degrees of density concerning kissing sounds.
The title refers to the fact that the musicians only play on the mouthpieces of their instruments using different preparation devices to achieve a rich timbral palette.

2019-12-08 Esbjerg Ensemble
Broadcast (excerpt) on NRK P2 / Spillerom Søndag (Nor) at 17.03 h, live recording from 2019-11-15 (Nordic Music Days), including an interview (excerpt) with Marion Hestholm
2019-11-15 Esbjerg Ensemble
Festival Nordic Music Days 2019, at the Stormen Concert Hall / Small Hall in Bodø (Nor), radio recording by NRK P2
2019-05-03 EAMT New Music Ensemble and Tarmo Johannes (conductor)
Festival ISCM World Music Days / Estonian Music Days 2019, at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre / Chamber Hall in Tallinn (Est) – world premiere (quartet version, fl-cl-tp-sax)
2016-08-11 Tamara Kohler (fl), Shaghayegh Shahrabi Farahani (ob), Amy Glover (cl), Yoshiki Matsuura (trb) and Roberto Manjavacas Laguía (sax)
48th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, at the Lichtenberg School / gym (Ger), coaching by Ernesto Molinari, audio recording by MBM Mielke Bergfeld Musikproduktion / Darmstadt – world premiere (8 min version, fl-ob-cl-trb-sax)
2016-05-26 Esbjerg Ensemble and Petter Sundkvist (conductor)
Broadcast including interview with Katrine Ganer Skaug on SR P2 / P2 Live (Swe) at 19.03 h, live recording from 2016-03-18 (New Directions Festival, 7 min version), with an introduction by Märet Öman
2016-03-18 Esbjerg Ensemble and Petter Sundkvist (conductor)
New Directions Festival 2016, at the Studio Acusticum / Main Concert Hall in Piteå (Swe), live interview with Katrine Ganer Skaug, radio recording by SR P2 – world premiere (7 min version)
2013-07-28 canorusquintett
Festival Young Euro Classic 2013, at the Konzerthaus Berlin / Werner Otto hall in Berlin (Ger) – world premiere
2011-06-15 Peder Nilsson (dancer/cho­re­o­grapher)
Skånes Dansteater in Malmö (Swe)
2010-05-29 St. Christopher Woodwind Quintet
Drus­ko­manija fes­ti­val 2010 in Druskininkai (Ltu) – world premiere (Scherzo Silenzioso / 1st version)

8,33% Selection (Swe) for the Nordic Music Days 2019, 50/600 (2019-04) [final version].
12,96% Selection for the festival UNM (Young Nordic Music) 2011, 7/54 (2011-01) [1st version].
13,04% Honourable mention award in the 37th Young Composer Competition for the Frederic Mompou International Award 2016 in Barcelona (Esp), 3/23 (2016-09) [trio version].
16,13% Selection for the ISCM World Music Days 2019, 5/31 (2019-03) [quartet ver­sion].
30% Selection by the Esbjerg Ensemble (Den) for a concert at the New Directions Festival 2016 in Piteå (Swe), 6/20 (2016-01) [7 min version].
31,03% Selection for the Chamber Sessions at the 48th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt (Ger), 9/29 (2016-07) [7 min version].
Nomination for the European Composer Award / Berlin (Ger) (2013-03) [2nd version].

Konzerthaus Berlin 2013-07-28;
bars 1-5, 43-46, 58-61, 87-90, 123-125, 155-159;
duration: 1 min 33 sec.


St. Christopher Woodwind Quintet;
Druskininkai 2010-05-29;
bars 1-10, 31-37, 97-105 [1st version];
duration: 1 min 39 sec.