Around the Clocks

Instrumentation

Cello
1
Flute
1
French Horn
1
Tenor
1
Viola
1
Melodica

Additional Information

Written as part of Kirkos Ensemble’s Biosphere Festival in September 2020, Around the Clocks is a flexible outdoor work for open instrumentation that comments on the gradual rise in the earth’s average global temperature.

Taking place over several days in Dublin, Ireland, the performers travelled around the city to perform short musical excerpts in front of 24 different public clocks and sundials at the start of each hour.

Each of the movements are linked to the average global temperatures from the past 24 years (1996 to 2019) by translating the increase in temperature to a subtraction of seconds from 5 minutes. As the piece progresses, the average temperature range increases and thus the duration of each movement on average becomes increasingly shorter.

In conjunction with gradual decreases in the average duration, the material and texture of each movement generally moves from a single, almost completely static chord, to a freer and more deviant material that utilises various timbral techniques. 

Tags

Details

Year

United Kingdom

Minutes
55

Recordings

Date published
29th November 2020
Date recorded
September and October 2020
Performers
Kirkos Enssemble
Venue
Various Locations, Dublin, Republic of Ireland