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Christopher Cerrone
Nervous Systems
for clarinet quintet
clarinet in Bb and string quartet (2022)| Duration | 14' |
|---|---|
| Commission | Commissioned by Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Omega Ensemble, Third Angle New Music, and Chatter |
| Premiere | June 4 and 5, 2022; Los Angeles; Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra • Benjamin Mitchell, clarinet September 22, 24, 28, 30, October 1; Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, and Melbourne; Omega Ensemble • David Rowden, clarinet Oct 19 and 20, 2022; Portland; Third Angle New Music • James Shields, clarinet April 7, 8, and 9, 2023; Albuquerque; Chatter • James Shields, clarinet |
| Publisher | PSNY |
Media
Program Note
The central conceit of Nervous Systems came to me while I was a fellow at the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy. A neighboring town, where I’d frequently take walks, was called Nervi. Both Bogliasco and Nervi sit directly upon the Ligurian Sea. It’s impossible not to hear the sound of waves crashing on the shore; its constant din is an endlessly soothing presence.
Nervi also happens to be the surname of one of my favorite architects, Pier Luigi Nervi, who has been called “the poet of concrete.” He designed some of my favorite edifices in Italy: rigorous modernist masses that are the paragon of symmetry and order, but whose materials suggest an austere roughness.
The confluence of these names, and the fact that the word nervi is also Italian for “nerves” got me thinking about different kinds of systems of organization, be they the internal nervous system of the body, the homeostasis between land and sea, or the architectural plans of a building. I composed the movements of my piece around these ideas.
The first movement, “Hive of Nerves,” features each player playing fast and overlapping rhythmic figures. I imagined different parts of the human nervous system interacting; the music is skittish and nervous. Much like any system, the interaction of the constituent parts is more important than any single element. The clarinet often doubles one of the string players. With its warm and blended tone, it binds all the elements of the system together.
The second movement, “Framed Sky,” imagines the Ligurian Sea spanning out like an endless vista. The strings imitate the sound of the sea crashing on the shore by tonelessly brushing their bows up and down their strings (the Italian word for this technique, spazzolare, is one of my favorites). As the movement proceeds, the strings and clarinet whoosh like the wind, and eventually the clarinet plays multiphonics—or two notes at the same time—that almost blend with the strings. The result is a deliberately slightly out-of-tune soundworld, an attempt to capture the liminal space on the horizon between sea and sky.
The final movement, “Palazzo del Lavoro,” pays homage to the architect Nervi and his building in Turin of the same name. I used rough sounds like sul ponticello (playing on the bridge), bouncing ricochets, and snap pizzicati to simulate the harshness of concrete, while the clarinet dances around these percussive sounds, evoking his sense of play within the rough but orderly universe.
– Christopher Cerrone
