" . . . THERE IS NONE LIKE THEE AMONG THE DANCERS . . ."
(world premiere)
Cord Meijering, 1999

for kayagum - Ji Aeri, changgu - Kim Woon-sik, flute - Sally Schlichting, viola - Julia Bastuscheck

The particular challenge in composing a piece for flute, viola, kayagûm and changgu lay not only in the fact that I was dealing with a combination of two Western and two Asian instruments, but also in the particular texture of this instrumentation.

Concerning the experience of time in listening to a piece, I have long been interested in combining developmental processes with self-contained, daydream-like passages. A little over a year ago, in the composition of a duet for flute and clarinet, I discovered that it was most effective to limit the harmonic language (the duet only uses six different notes), while the sound gestures create the impression that the music develops spontaneously out of itself.

In this quartet the fixed sound axis is played by the kayagûm. A further elaboration of this harmonic structure lies in the glissando effects typical of this instrument. The sound of the changgu is also a constant. While the Asian instruments present developments exclusively on a gestural level, the Western instruments are also capable of developing in the realm of harmony, as they have all twelve notes available to them. The creation of tension in the composition is thus based on the constant superimposition of developing and static currents.

I have taken the title from Ezra Pound's "Dance Figure." The title relates in a freely associative way to the music.