Canadian Music Centre | SydneyEnterprise (Final)
Hello, Guest
Add As Favorite
Language
Log out
Viewing Library Collection
Copy
Request
Views
OPAC Composer Showcase LibCol View
OPAC Mobile LibCol View
OPAC Search LibCol View
Circulation
Add to Favourites
My Favourites
Select
/
Clear
favorite
Add
/
Remove
Create a New Favourites List
Add
The Whitening of the Ox
RSN:
67216
|
Composition Date:
2011
|
Revision Date:
N/A
|
Duration:
00:32:00
Share this record
Email
Library Record
Cataloguing Information
Call Number
MV 1376 R988wh
Genre
Solo Voice with Large Ensemble, Woodwind(s) / Brass / Percussion / Plectral String / String Bowed
Material Type
Print-music
Acquisition Date
2013-02-14
Library Collection Publisher / Label
Unpublished, printed by CMC / Inédit, imprimé par le CMC
Additional Information
1. Overhead Thunder Clouds 2. Ungovernable As My Heart 3. To the End of the World 4. A Seed Planted in Me 5. Fade To Winter 6. Nothing Has Changed 7. A Circle Bending 8. White Shadows Without Shape 9. The Gate of My Home 10. Echoes of Light Shining The story of the oxherd taming his wild ox comes from Zen Buddhism, and has provided (and continues to provide) the inspiration for many different series of images. The ox, representing the untamed mind and ego, is gradually brought under control by the oxherd. In many versions, as the ox is tamed it turns progressively whiter until it becomes transparent and vanishes, and a perfect circle of Enlightenment is achieved. Centuries later, these images inspired Canadian poet K.V. Skene to write a set of ten poems as a contemporary response to these images and this story. When I discovered these poems in an issue of Descant, I was drawn to the richness and the musicality of her poetry, that evoked her inspiration in language both timeless yet thoroughly of our own time. The half-hour journey of this work takes us from chaos to order, complexity to simplicity, frenetic to focused, dark to light. The multi-layered first movement, Overhead Thunder Clouds, opens with scattered energy, a large-ranging vocal line depicting the oxherd’s inner duality, and an instrumental emphasis on lower register and darker colours. As the music proceeds from song to song, the oxherd meets, faces, and forges a relationship with the ox, frequently represented by the solo bassoon. By the fifth song, Fade to Winter, the oxherd is able to untie and embrace the ox, which both frightens and liberates him, and in the sixth song, he wonders whether he made the right choice in undertaking this journey, fearing that Nothing Has Changed. But as the ox disappears, the oxherd finds a new sense of calm, release and detachment, culminating in the warm colours, simplicity and cohesion of the final song, Echoes of Light Shining. The Whitening of the Ox was commissioned by New Music Concerts (Toronto) and Turning Point Ensemble (Vancouver), with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Deux Mille Foundation. Commissioned by: New Music Concerts and Turning Point Ensemble
Master Location
Toronto
Language
English
Loans
Borrow a copy of this work by adding it to your
Loan Requests
and then submitting your Loan Request to CMC.
Purchase
Click Here
to purchase this work online.
Physical Description
Found 2 record(s)
Available Actions
Extent of Item
1 score (171 p.) ;
1 piano-vocal score (69 p.) ;
Instrumentation
Found 11 record(s)
Available Actions
Set No.
Category
Instrument
Number
43928
Voices
Baritone
1
43928
Woodwinds
Flute
1
43928
Woodwinds
Oboe
1
43928
Woodwinds
Clarinet
1
43928
Woodwinds
Bassoon
1
43928
Brass
Horn
1
43928
Brass
Trumpet
1
43928
Brass
Trombone
1
43928
Percussion
Percussion
1
43928
Strings, plucked
Harp
1
43928
Strings, bowed
1
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Divided
No
Solo
No
Premiere
29/01/2012 Enwave Theatre Toronto, ON Tyler Duncan, baritone New Music Concerts Ensemble Conductor: Robert Aitken, conductor
SydneyEnterprise v4.4.0.28 - Canadian Music Centre | SydneyEnterprise (Final)