Product Description
Titans:
This is a
piece inspired by the mythological Titans, who were deposed by the Greek God
Zeus, who exiled them and founded the Olympian tradition. The titans were
created by the mating of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (the Earth). Gaea and Uranus
were themselves created from Chaos (the Void). There were many Titans. Cronus,
often mistaken for the god of time, was their leader, their brother and the
father of their children. Cronus mated with his sister Rhea to produce the gods
Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.
Cronus
was given a prophecy that he would be deposed by his children, so he forced Rhea
to give her children to him when they were born whereupon he ate them. She
managed to deceive him and hid Zeus, the youngest male child, away. Zeus
eventually freed his siblings, by making Cronus vomit to bring them back to the
world and thus he became the oldest. The other gods were persuaded to make Zeus
their leader and together they deposed Cronus and defeated the Titans in a war (the
Titanomachy) that lasted for many years. Zeus and the other gods were not able
to kill Cronus, so he exiled him and all of the other Titans in a place called
Tartarus, which was part of the underworld, where Cronus would have no access
to power of any kind.
The music is based mostly on the opening chords, which recur again and
again, representing Tartarus and also Cronus and all of his children in one
form or another. Melodic material throughout is shaped by the chords and their
progressions and I have applied simple transformations for example, in the
last section I have shaped the motifs by applying a snippet of a Fibonacci
sequence and overlaying the result in different parts like a canon. I decided
to use this because the Fibonacci sequence is representative of nature and the
growth of life so it links to Gaea, who represents the creative force.
Obviously, Cronus, Gaea, Chaos, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon and Tartarus are
all represented here, but so too are Oceanus, Phoebe, Mnemosyne and The
Titanomachy (The war of the Olympians against the Titans). The piece finishes
with a reprise of the opening chords, which have transformed into a less bleak
soundscape, with Cronus and the other Titans safely locked away in Tartarus.
This is a difficult and challenging piece demanding a high level of skill from all players. it uses a number of dramatic effects and will stretch any ensemble.
I am looking into making a version of this piece for Brass Quintet.
Watch te score playing here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w7dUmJh5k4
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