Tempered Magazine December 2013 // January 2014 // Issue 01 | Page 22
PAUL CANTRELL ‘98
The Broken Mirror of Memory, Part II
About the Work
The second of a two-part series, the piece is a duet for bass clarinet
and piano.
The past century gave us a school of thought that musicians must
“respect the intentions of the composer” by treating scores with a
reverential literalism, striving to play everything exactly as marked
and to add nothing. As a composer, I want you to be free from that
literalism. You have not only my permission, but my entreaty: please
don’t treat my music that way! The score is only the skeleton of the
music. The intention of this particular composer is for performers to
interpret the score: stretch the pulse; stretch the dynamics; shape
every phrase; play expressions that aren’t on the page; contradict
expressions that are; summon every color and nuance of your
instrument in the service of musicality; take liberties; take risks!
To hear more of Paul’s work, visit
http://innig.net/music/inthehands
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