Djinn (marimba concerto)

Djinn - a concerto for marimba and chamber orchestra, was written for and inspired by percussionist Pedro Carneiro.

It has since been arranged for solo marimba and digital audio, marimba and percussion ensemble, and marimba and traditional Chinese instruments.

This concerto is an early example of collective commissioning with three of New Zealand's regional orchestra's contributing to the process with funding provided by Creative New Zealand. Orchestra Wellington under the leadership of Christine Pearce- who drove the commission and the project - the Auckland Philharmonia, and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra each performed the work as part of its premiere season in April 2010 with Marc Taddei at the baton, and Pedro as soloist, for all three performances.

Inspired by the mystical concept of the djinn, or genie, Djinn embarks on a musical exploration of magical themes and mythical tales. In three movements, the concerto unfolds like a transformative journey through the realms of Pandora, the labyrinth, and the ethereal realm of dreams.

Djinn contains possibly my best marimba writing, particularly the unaccompanied parts in the middle movement (and particularly the end of that movement). Listening back, I seem to have understood (at least temporarily) the integrated instrument and the effect of its resonance. As someone who struggles composing for that instrument, I'm heartened to have at least some examples of writing for it that are not primarily conceived around the attack points, or transients, of notes.

As an orchestral work it is a beast. One of the most difficult to put together. Every part is hard; and to be fully realised, it requires a rehearsal approach that is closer to chamber music preparation than the orchestral process. The second movement in particular has the detailed writing that would be more suitable to a string quartet. And the third movement has intentional derailments of the flow that were an attempt to simulate the how entire musical textures can speed up and slow down when manipulating a vinyl on a turntable. I worked this out painstakingly, event by event, (now I have a plug-in), then worked out how to notate it, and tried to make it as user-friendly as possible for the players...but it's still nasty to put together.

There are two competing voices in me; one is ever-grateful that I only ever write what I want to hear, the other hectors me like a shrew that I create works like Djinn which are almost never performed. So many composers figure out the middle ground; I'm nearly 60 at the time of writing and I'm still so far away from knowing how to write what I want to hear in a way that is eminently playable. I always seem to find my inspiration at the edge of what's possible, and only there.

The journey of this work is woven in and around my relationship with Pedro. I feel incredibly lucky to have met him when I did. He is responsible for One Study One Summary as well as Psyzygysm, he recorded View from Olympus and he inspired Djinn. In 2018 when I was on sabbatical in London, I went to Lisbon to record this concerto with Pedro. His internalisation of the solo part, the depth of his understanding of the instrument when playing this music, was a once-in-a-lifetime, profound, experience for me. He revealed the music within the music that I didn't yet know was there. In the end that recording didn't make it to release, a real loss of sharing such a great artist's capture of this music. These are big milestones in musical relationships.

Pedro also performed the work in Taiwan with a Chinese instruments orchestra - there's a video below. For me, absolutely extraordinary.

Programme Note

Djinn/genie

• a supernatural creature able to appear in human form and to possess humans.
• a guardian spirit assigned to each person at their birth.
• the djinn are made of fire, man is made of clay, angels created of light.

I. Pandora

Each god helped create her by giving her seductive gifts. Pandora opened a jar releasing all the evils of mankind leaving only Hope inside.

“The immortals know no care, yet the lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the floor of Zeus’ palace there stand two urns, the one filled with evil gifts, and the other with good ones. He for whom Zeus the lord of thunder mixes the gifts he sends, will meet now with good and now with evil fortune; but he to whom Zeus sends none but evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger of scorn, the hand of famine will pursue him to the ends of the world, and he will go up and down the face of the earth, respected neither by gods nor men.”

– Homer, Iliad

II. Labyrinth

Labyrinths are symbols that speak to deep levels of consciousness. The trip into the center and out again mirrors our lives and our personal journeys. The first few steps might be hesitant. With each successive turn that takes us closer to, then farther from the center, we examine our choices until the last turn takes us into the still, motionless center. The center of a labyrinth is the center of the Mystery. For some, it can be the largest, deepest, most profound Mystery, others find only their own shadow, or emptiness. In

a labyrinth, the way out is the way in. There’s no wrong turn, or wrong choice. It is surrendering to the journey itself. We emerge from the last turn blinking, astonished. Much of the marimba writing in this movement was inspired by the oud/outi and setar playing of Vasili Papanikolaou, Dariush Tala’I, Xaik Yiazitzian

– Antonis Aperghis, Rahim Alhaj

III. Out-Dreaming the Genie

Echoes of the warm safe danger conjured forth by the music of childhood TV shows, in which we may have been in the land of the giants, lost in space, or on a magic carpet with an inscrutable genie, but we knew always that

everything was

ok

Wasn’t it?

Stories and images that convinced youthful us we would turn our crawling into walking, then into running, and finally that we would lift up from the earth and fly free.

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Listen to Djinn on Orchestra Wellington's Leviathan album, featuring Yoshiko Tsuruta on marimba:

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There's a segment on Djinn (filming and leading up to the premiere) in the View From Olympus documentary. Jump to that section of the film here: Djinn Premiere

Full Instrumentation

Solo Marimba & Chamber Orchestra:‍

Flute (optional)

Harp

Strings

3 Percussion

Percussion Section:

Player 1: Finger cymbal, Triangle, Daff (no bangles), Waterphone, Spring drum, Very small concert tom, Splash cymbal, Suspended cymbal (medium-large)

Player 2: Djembe, Crotales, Finger cymbal, Suspended cymbal (medium-large), Bass drum, Metal wind chimes, Glockenspiel, Whip, Splash cymbal

Player 3: Finger cymbal, Suspended cymbal (medium-large), Bass drum, Metal wind chimes, Glockenspiel, Triangle, Mark tree, 4 Japanese singing bowls (ascending C#/Db, D#/Eb, E#/F, G#/Ab), Splash cymbal, Tubular bells, very large Tam-tam

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