Type of musical ensemble
Pierrot ensemble plus percussion (vibraphone ) in a performance of Steve Reich 's Double Sextet A Pierrot ensemble is a musical ensemble comprising flute , clarinet , violin , cello and piano . This ensemble is named after 20th-century composer Arnold Schoenberg ’s seminal work Pierrot lunaire soprano ).
The quintet of instruments used in Pierrot lunaire has been used in the twentieth century by different groups, such as The Fires of London , who formed in 1965 as "The Pierrot Players" to perform Pierrot lunaire, and continued to concertize with a varied classical and contemporary repertory. This group began to perform works arranged for these instruments and commission new works.[ 1]
While standard chamber ensembles (such as string quartets or piano trios ) continued to be extremely popular among 20th-century composers, the Pierrot ensemble represents an example of the many kinds of non-standard chamber ensembles that have been used in classical music since the beginning of the 20th century.
The number of compositions written for Pierrot Ensemble is limited by the inherent unbalance of the ensemble (two strings, plus two winds, plus piano). More frequent are works that introduce additional instruments, typically more strings, and especially percussion which obtains a small, and inexpensive, chamber ensemble with three families of instruments represented.
Doublings are a standard compositional device used to extend an ensemble instrumental color. In Schoenberg 's Pierrot lunaire piccolo , the clarinetist is asked to play bass clarinet . Other common doublings might include E♭ (as in Carter 's Triple Duo ), alto flute .
Notable Pierrot ensembles [ edit ] Fires of London (Founded as the Pierrot Players) (1965-1987, UK)Da Capo Chamber Players (1970, USA)The New Music Players (1990, UK)
Standing Wave (1991, Canada)
Achrome Ensemble (2013, Italy)
Brightwork New Music (2013, USA)
What Is Noise (2014, USA)
Ensemble Namu 나무앙상블 (2017, South Korea) Works for Pierrot ensemble [ edit ] [ edit ] Maurice Ravel : 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913) + 2nd flute, 2nd clarinet, and voiceIgor Stravinsky : 3 Japanese Lyrics (1913) + 2nd flute doubling piccolo, 2nd clarinet, and voiceManuel de Falla : Harpsichord Concerto Hanns Eisler :
Palmström (1926) + soprano (without piano)14 Arten den Regen zu beschreiben (1941) + violaOlivier Messiaen : Quatuor pour la fin du temps Juan Carlos Paz : Dedalus (1950)Peter Maxwell Davies : Eight Songs for a Mad King baritone and percussionSean Friar : Scale 9 (2009) + percussion - flute (quintet), + percussion (sextet), + viola, and percussion (septet)Donald Martino : Notturno (1973) + percussion; winner of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize Morton Feldman : For Frank O'Hara (1976) + percussionRalph Shapey : Three for Six (1979) + percussionJoan Tower : Noon Dance (1982) + percussionCharles Wuorinen : New York Notes (1982) + 1 or 2 percussionists and electronic soundsElliott Carter : Triple Duo (1983) + percussionRichard Festinger :
Septet (1987) + viola and percussionA Serenade for Six (1993) + percussionAfter Blue (1998) + percussionThe Coming of Age (2003) + soprano and violaSalvatore Sciarrino : Lo Spazio inverso (1985) + celestaJohn Harbison : The Natural World (1987) + sopranoWilliam Susman :
John Cage : Seven (1988) + violaKamran Ince : Waves of Talya (1989) + percussionEarle Brown : Tracking Pierrot (1992) + percussionJacob Druckman : Come Round (1992) + percussionLaura Schwendinger :
Fable (1992) + percussionSongs of Heaven and Earth (1997) + percussion, harp and voiceMise-en-scene (2011) + percussionArtist's Muse (2017) + percussionChen Yi : Sparkle (1992) + 2 percussionists, double bass Iannis Xenakis : Plektó (1993) + percussionMario Davidovsky : Flashbacks (1995) + percussionGérard Grisey : Vortex Temporum (1996) + violaRobert Paterson :
Quintus (1996) + percussion (without flute)Sextet (1999) + percussionThe Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind (2004) + percussionEating Variations (2006) + baritone and percussion (without piano)Winter Songs (2008) + bass-baritone and percussionHell's Kitchen (2014) + percussionSummer Songs (2016) + soprano and percussionSpring Songs (2018) + tenor and percussionAutumn Songs (2019) + mezzo-soprano and percussionListen (2022) + choir and percussionMel Powell : Sextet (1996) + percussionLior Navok
Sextet (1998) + percussionElegy to the Future (2001) + percussionSteven Stucky : Ad Parnassum (1998) + percussionSteven Mackey : Micro-Concerto (1999) + percussionFred Lerdahl : Time After Time (2000) + percussionRytis Mazulis : Canon mensurabilis (2000) + violaTristan Murail : Winter Fragments (2000) + electronic soundsFrederic Rzewski :
Pocket Symphony (2000) + percussionBrussels Diary (2010)George Perle : Critical Moments 2 (2001) + percussionMartin Bresnick : My Twentieth Century (2002) + viola Zhou Long :Five Elements (2002) + percussion; also exists in a version with Chinese instrumentsSebastian Currier : Static (2003); winner of the 2007 Grawemeyer Award Jennifer Higdon : Zaka (2003) + percussionTheo Verbey : Perplex (2004) + vibraphone Rolf Wallin : The Age of Wire and String (2005)Stuart Greenbaum : Book of Departures (2007) + percussionStephen Hartke : Meanwhile: Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays (2007) + viola (rather than violin) and percussionSteve Reich : Double Sextet Pulitzer Prize John Woolrich In the Mirrors of Asleep (2007)Mohammed Fairouz : Unwritten (2010) + sopranoMichael Seltenreich : Sparks & Flares (2010) + percussionGreg Caffrey :
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2016) + percussionThree movements on the work of William Scott (2017) + percussionThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold (2018) + percussionGraham Waterhouse : Irish Phoenix Gabriel Vicéns : El Matorral (2022) + vibraphone Elena Doria Winell :
"reaching towards, reaching from" (2023) + percussion
"blood...all over my hands" (2023) + soprano and percussion Nicholas Tran : "on becoming space // Emergent Becoming" (2023)+ percussionChristopher Dromey, The Pierrot Ensembles: Chronicle and Catalogue, 1912-2012 (London: Plumbago, 2013).
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