MOONBALLS (2015)

MOONBALLS (2015)

for woodwind quintet and ensemble

solo: fl*, ob*, cl*, bsn*, cor* (all doub. guitars)
ensemble: 0.0.0.0./0.1.1.0/perc/pno*/1.0.1.1.1
duration: 12 minutes
première: October 25, 2015, Festival Slowind, Slovenian Philharmonic Ljubljana, Slovenia
Slowind Woodwind Quintet, Ensemble Contrechamps
Conducted by Michael Wendeberg

Commissioned by Slowind Festival 2015

MOONBALLS

score preview

MOONBALLS

(excerpt)

October 25, 2015, Festival Slowind, Ljubljana (première)
Slowind Woodwind Quintet, Ensemble Contrechamps
Conducted by Michael Wendeberg
Produced by Radio Slovenia

Additional performances

April 21, 2021, Festival Ljubljana, Union Hall
Slovenian Philharmonic, Daniel Gotschlich – cook-performer, conducted by Simon Krečič

October 27, 2015, Studio Ernest-Ansermet, Genève, Switzerland
Slowind Woodwind Quintet, Ensemble Contrechamps
Conducted by Michael Wendeberg

ABOUT

How does an audience imagine a composer at work? We might hope that it would be at the piano, deep in thought, or at a large desk, with paper strewn everywhere. Perhaps seeking inspiration while out strolling in the park in the evening, to give his eyes a rest. What, though, would it look like when he goes on holiday?

Lying on the beach, sipping the milk of a young coconut while listening to the sound of the sea and the cicadas, the sand swirling between his toes? A long way from his music, it would seem. Perhaps, too, he is occasionally to be found at the tennis court, idly lobbing moon balls at his opponent. A bit of guitar music to go with that? Why not…?

Vito Žuraj (trans. Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke)

How does an audience imagine a composer at work? We might hope that it would be at the piano, deep in thought, or at a large desk, with paper strewn everywhere. Perhaps seeking inspiration while out strolling in the park in the evening, to give his eyes a rest. What, though, would it look like when he goes on holiday? Lying on the beach, sipping the milk of a young coconut while listening to the sound of the sea and the cicadas, the sand swirling between his toes? A long way from his music, it would seem.
Perhaps, too, he is occasionally to be found at the tennis court, idly lobbing moon balls at his opponent. A bit of guitar music to go with that? Why not…?

Vito Žuraj, trans. Tomas Westbrooke