Commissioned by: Ensemble MAE, with financial support from the Netherlands Fund for the Performing Arts
First Performance: Ensemble MAE, October 30 2008, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam
Instrumentation: recorders, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, double bass, electric guitar, ebow piano, percussion & Sinewaves
Duration: ca. 30’
Special Features: Performance requires stopwatch monitor on stage, sound engineer and amplification for all musicians. Piano part requires 5 Ebows.

Score samples

Listen/Buy: MAE on Spotify

Info/Program note:
Music for Sines, Percussion, eBows & Variable Ensemble (2008) consists of five six-minute movements for amplified ensemble and sine waves. The work is centered around a sine-tone patch which with each new section consistently adds 1 cent to the beating-patterns which constitute the backbone of the piece. In this way Music for Sines emphatically deals with pulse. Starting from a central point, the sections then gradually expand outwards in a kind of jagged wedge form: up one register, down two, up three and finally down four for the last.

All of the instrumental parts are derived from the sine-tone patch and consist of fixed as well as free material: Periodic Entries on the one hand, microtonally scanning the circumference of the sines and forming differing combinations of solos, duos and trios throughout the piece, and Available Pitches on the other: specified harmonic gamuts from which the musicians can choose their entries according to certain rules. The percussionist measures time by either ‘translating’ the microtonal progress of the musicians or through magnifying specific beatings in the sines.