Una Corda (2016)
[fl.cl.bsn.tpt.tbn.perc.pno (prepared).strings]
Duration: 7’
Commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic National Composer’s Intensive
Premiered October 1, 2016 at Disney Hall, Los Angeles CA
Wild Up; Chris Rountree, conductor
Published by Schott Music
Score and parts available through PSNY
I wrote Una Corda while I was teaching at the Walden School, a summer program for young composers in Dublin, New Hampshire. I wrote this piece mostly in an early morning haze of sleepiness and tranquility, before beginning a busy, cacophonous day of teaching. Earlier that summer, I’d written a piece, uni sono, for mixed quartet, that took Luciano Berio’s idea of an orchestrated unison or single line as its premise. Berio’s Linea and Points on a Curve to Find are some examples of this. In Points on a Curve to Find, for piano and ensemble, Berio actually wrote the entire piano part first and then orchestrated it, which is what I decided to do too in Una Corda. The result is a piece that feels very simple and focused for me — essentially a descending tetrachord (four scalar notes) in the piano that is sustained by the ensemble, with some microtonal deviations. Later, that same tetrachord rises again and becomes embellished in a short outburst of energy.
Press:
“A descending tetrachord figure is the focal point around which swirl cacophonous and microtonal sounds from the ensemble. The piano is prepared (small objects are inserted into the strings) so that some of its pitches have a more percussive, hollow sound than a pianistic one. Throughout the piece, at seemingly regular intervals, the percussionist tosses loose change into a jar with a charming and grounding jangle. Balch’s artfully layered orchestrations are a pleasure to explore.”