DEUS / Metamorphose IV [2018/2019]

… in nobis sine nobis…

The ‘Metamorphoses’ are a series of compositions that provide an answer to the problem Steve Reich faced after writing works like ‘Piano Phase’ and ‘Clapping Music,’ which are completely consistent. The question for him must have been what he could write next. He chose a loose form, in which he applied techniques from those early works but without the consistent form associated with them. In the ‘Metamorphoses,’ I find an answer through harmonic development.

The first ‘Metamorphosis’ consists of 144 ‘blocks’ and a Coda. Each block is formed by a four-part rhythmic canon. The blocks develop gradually. The second block is a repetition of the first, with one change, a note from one of the four voices, which is slightly lengthened. The process of change is similar to the hands of a clock; you don’t see them move, but after a few minutes, the ‘minute hand’ has moved. In the first section, only the rhythms are changed, and then the pitches, one by one. The harmony of the last block is completely different from the first. Each block should be played as if the piece starts anew each time. In the Coda, the whole process is accelerated and ‘rewound’ from front to back, as if a slowly wound spring is released. The entire work lasts about 40 minutes. The instrumentation is free.

The other ‘Metamorphoses’ are variations on this. The fourth, ‘DEUS,’ I wrote for all the instruments in the Orgelpark in Amsterdam: nine large and smaller organs (including a harmonium) and two grand pianos. It is the only one in the series that has been performed.

Supervisor Orgelpark: Trevor Grahl

Performers: organ students of Jos van der Kooy and composition students of Cornelis de Bondt.