Blurred Visions

Chase, Stephen

About the work

‘Blurred Visions’ is cast in two movements: 1-All at Sea; 2-Delays Expected.Both movements are concerned with the effects upon musicianship and texture within an unsynchronised ensemble at extremes of speed.’All at Sea’ uses a limited range of pitches to create a floating cluster which can be extended into an ‘infinite’ canon depending upon the number of players.’Delays Expected’ is 3’30” in length precisely. The players race through as much of their material as fast as they can-with some brief diversions on the way-before the otherwise redundant conductor stops them. This movement is dedicated to Conlon Nancarrow.

First Performance: Members of COMA and the London Sinfonietta, State of the Nation, Purcell Room, London, February 1998

Technical notes

Synchronicity is not the issue. The conductor merely indicates the start of each movement and the end of the second. The second movement is not concerned with speed in a competitive sense. The interest is in the result of differing individual speeds within the groups. Therefore each player plays as fast as possible, but fluidly and cleanly. Players should not be concerned about being left behind. There is no ‘left behind’.

Origin

Call for Pieces Entry: The State of the Nation 98