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Christopher Cerrone
Double Happiness
for electric guitar, percussion, and electronics
percussion instrumentation: (vibraphone, 4 glockenspiel bars, 6 crotales, and one optional metal pipe) (2012)| Duration | 13' |
|---|---|
| Movements | I. Self Portrait, Part 1 II. Interlude III. Self Portrait, Part 2 IV. Interlude II V. New Year's Song (for Sarah) |
| Commission | Commissioned by The Living Earth Show (Travis Andrews, guitar and Andrew Meyerson, percussion) |
| Premiere | April 4, 2013; Fast Forward Austin Festival, Austin, TX; The Living Earth Show |
| Technical requirements | 1 Mac or PC computer, running Max Runtime 6 or higher (free download at cycling74.com) 1 Audio interface with at least 1 input 1 Foot pedal for triggering electronics 2 Condenser Microphones (for optional amplification of percussion) Stereo Speakers |
| Publisher | PSNY |
Media
Program Note
Double Happiness was written in the fall of 2012. While the piece was composed in New York, much of the piece was inspired by a summer spent in Italy while I was a fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation’s castle in Umbria. I spent a lot of my time in Italy collecting field recordings of the Italian countryside, the sounds of church bells, train stations, and rainstorms. All of these sounds eventually found their way into Double Happiness as I constructed an emotional narrative around the sounds I experienced.
The piece consists of three larger movements connected by two (almost) identical interludes. The first movement, “Self Portrait, Part I,” explores the simple repetition of four simple notes, obsessive in their melancholy. The detuned guitar, plays only harmonics, while the vibraphone always plays gently sustained notes; both are paired with ambient noises and simple sustaining electronics (hovering in and around the pitches) that further maintain the mood. The movement ends on an optimistic note as the four repeated notes slowly transform into a downward moving chorale that leads inexorably to a celebratory D major chord.
The mood of the first movement is cut off quickly. Summer in Umbria is hot and dry and always ends quite abruptly with a long and extreme rain storm that cuts the heat; unexpectedly it’s autumn out of nowhere. I used the sound of this rainstorm to create the same effect in my interludes in Double Happiness. The first interlude features the rainstorm, two gentle chords in the guitar and the vibraphone player plays my transcription of four church bells heard ringing asynchronously in the distance.
If the first Self Portrait explores extremes of melancholy, the third movement, “Self Portrait, Part II” is an extreme study in joy, ecstatic joy—the feeling can be almost as uncontrollable as melancholy. The third movement features a field recording of a rhythmic train station bell. This sound is coupled with the percussionist playing a simple and very rhythmic melody over and over again, augmented with resonant and microtonal electronics, giving the whole movement an extremely bright, metallic sheen. Eventually the guitar joins the vibraphone in a very careful and detailed rhythmic hocket as the movement spins out more and more vibrantly.
The third movement cuts off as quickly as the first and we once again have an interlude. The second interlude is more austere than the first with the transcription of a simple and extraordinarily resonant church bell ringing against the chords of the guitar and the rainstorm again.
The final movement, “New Year’s Song (for Sarah)” tries to find a place of repose between the two extremes. The movement is in fact a simple song. A brief moment of electronics features the composer himself playing violin, and accordion. The movement ends gently, sustainedly, and I would hope happily.
