The_Fall_of_Icarus_17th_century_Musée_Antoine_Vivenel
17th-century relief, Daedalus and Icarus, Musée Antoine Vivenel

for bass flute, clarinet / bass clarinet, violin and cello. 9’20”. 2017.

Premiered September 15th, 2017. Takefu International Music Center.

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Score

Note:

Daedalus was commissioned by the wind quintet The City of Tomorrow as part of their series on nature, the mechanical and the apocalyptic. The myth of Daedalus fit perfectly within the ensemble’s theme of exploring the mechanical, industrial and technological.

I reworked and revised the quintet into a work for bass flute, clarinet and bass clarinet, violin and cello. Reworked for this new instrumentation, the techniques are drastically transposed and so the work became markedly different. But the inspiration and underlying themes remain the same.