{"id":144,"date":"2016-01-14T11:44:27","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/percdb.szsolomon.com\/?p=144"},"modified":"2016-01-15T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T14:40:50","slug":"lang-cheating-lying-stealing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/percdb.szsolomon.com\/lang-cheating-lying-stealing\/","title":{"rendered":"Lang – Cheating, Lying, Stealing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Composer’s Name: David Lang<\/p>\n
Title of Piece: Cheating, Lying, Stealing<\/p>\n
Number of Percussion Players: 3<\/p>\n
Total Number of Players: 6<\/p>\n
Instrumentation: bass clarinet, piano, percussion (marimba, snare, kick drum, 2 toms, anvil), 2 antiphonal brake drummers (w\/ triangles), violoncello<\/p>\n
Approximate length: 10 min.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Program Note:<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of years ago, I started thinking about how so often when classical composers write a piece of music, they are trying to tell you something that they are proud of and like about themselves–Here’s this big gushing melody, see how emotional I am. Or, here’s this abstract hard-to-figure-out piece, see how complicated I am, see my really big brain. I am more noble, more sensitive, I am so happy. The composer really believes he or she is exemplary in this or that area. It’s interesting, but it’s not very humble. So I thought, What would it be like if composers based pieces on what they thought was wrong with them? Like, here’s a piece that shows you how miserable I am. Or, here’s a piece that shows you what a liar I am, what a cheater I am. I wanted to make a piece that was about something disreputable. It’s a hard line to cross. You have to work against all your training. You are not taught to find the dirty seams in music. You are not taught to be low-down, clumsy, sly and underhanded. In Cheating, Lying, Stealing, although phrased in a comic way, I am trying to look at something dark. There is a swagger, but it is not trustworthy. In fact, the instruction on the score for how to play it says: Ominous funk.\u201d<\/p>\n
– David Lang<\/p>\n