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Programme Note

6 PIECES FOR PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE (1981/1999).

1.SUN & MOONS
2.INTERACTION
3. EXODUS
4. FOURFOILS & THRREEFOILS
5. EASY BEATS
6. WHIRLS

The six pieces was composed for the percussion publication “Per Nørgård: Drum book(ed. Ivan Hansen, Edition WH, 1999)” and combines different rhythms of the composers so called ´infinity series´. The musicians play in principal the same ´basic rhythm´ (abba-baab-baab-abba – and so on, using only two sounds, light and dark), but sometimes they exclude or accentuate some of the basic notes. In this way a rather complex music is created, using simple elements in combination, as known from African drumming or Balinese gamelan. As the infinity series has a fractal structure, the many rhythms can be combined in different tempi (½ tempo, ¼ tempo etc.) without creating a rhythmic chaos (as every 4th, 16th etc. note also creates the structure a-b-b-a, b-a-a-b etc.), the sounding result being contrasting counterpoints within a harmonic order.
The pieces are related to a series of percussion works since the 1970s (Whirls, Zigzag, Frühlenz-Tänze, I Ching, Echo Zone I-II-II, A Light Hour and more), all focusing on the polyphonic possibilities of these ´infinity rhythms´, and written for Danish percussionist like Gert Mortensen, Gert Sørensen, Safri Duo a.o.
Concerning the performance of the pieces: Pieces No. 1-4 are rather easy (and with a variable duration), No. 5-6 are rather virtuosic within a strict form. The pieces can be performed (attacca) as a suite, or separately.
“Easy Beats” may be paired with “Whirls” (“Whirls” played first – followed attacca by “Easy Beats”). If “Easy Beats” /“Whirls is placed at the beginning of a concert (or after the intermission) it might be an idea to play one or two of the first four pieces – softly, as a kind of “ambient music” - while the audience is arriving and finding their seats.
Per Nørgård & Ivan Hansen (2000)

Note: The last paragraph may be used if needed.