Zahgurim, whose number is twenty-three and who kills in an unnatural fashion...

for bass recorder and four percussionists (1987-1988)
17 minutes | no.2

This piece for bass recorder and four percussionists was written between September 1987 and April 1988 after one year of extensive research of multiphonics on the Aulos bass recorder. Because of the surprisingly high and piercing top notes of the multiphonics, it proved to be possible to combine the bass recorder with a serious amount of percussion instruments without experiencing huge balance problems. The minimal amplification of the recorder is only there to do justice to the lower and often more interesting regions of the multiphonics, in which the sonority, the sound characteristics and the amount of interference are articulated.

Musically speaking Zahgurim, whose number is twenty-three and who kills in an unnatural fashion… is a battle between bass recorder and percussion: the misgivings of the title (taken from the novel ‘Cities of the Red Night’ by the American author William Burroughs) come true.

Scoring

bass recorder & percussion (4 players)

Written for & Dedicated to

Mignon Zwart

Première

18 May 1988
Kees van Baarenzaal, Royal Conservatory, The Hague (Netherlands)

Mignon Zwart (bass recorder)
Rogier van der Tweel (percussion 1)
Bouwe de Jong (percussion 2)
Arnold Marinissen (percussion 3)
Ron Colbers (percussion 4)
Richard Rijnvos (conductor)

Award

Honourable mention International Gaudeamus Music Week 1989

Audio fragments

Performance

Mignon Zwart - bass recorder; Rogier van der Tweel, Bouwe de Jong, Arnold Marinissen, Ron Colbers - percussion; Richard Rijnvos - conductor

Recording

7 September 1989 (live), Gaudeamus Music Week 1989, Paradiso, Amsterdam
by NOS Radio (Hilversum)

Score Excerpts

CD Recording