Penthode for five groups of four instrumentalists

Year
1985
Duration
18'
Category
Chamber Orchestra

Instrumentation: 1(=picc,afl).1(=corA).1(=Ebcl).bcl(=dbcl).1-1.2.1.1-perc(3):I=marimba/3tpl.bl/2wdbl/lg SD/sm susp.cym/wood dr/gavel; II=vib/crot/sm tgl/guiro/3susp.cym/military dr/gong/tam-t; III=claves/whip/4bongos/sm SD/3tom-t/BD/cowbell-harp-pft-1.1.1.1.1
Dedication: To Pierre Boulez and l’Ensemble InterContemporain.
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Jul 26, 1985/ Ensemble InterContemporain, Pierre Boulez (cond)/ Royal Albert Hall, London

News

Penthode at the Proms Streaming Now

September 9, 2016
Palimpsest plays Penthode (review by Marcus Overton)

March 4, 2017

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Penthode is concerned with experiences of connectedness and isolation. Twenty players are divided into five groups of four, each group comprising instruments of different types. Each group has its own repertory of expressive characters embodied in its own special field of speeds and musical intervals. While the five groups oppose or combine with each other, one long continuous line passed from one instrument to another binds the first and third sections of the score together. The idea of a continuously unfolding line passed from one player to another was suggested by performances I heard in Berlin in 1964 of North Indian Dhrupad music by the Dagar Brothers. The score of Penthode was commissioned by the Ensemble InterContemporain and is dedicated to it and its initiator, Pierre Boulez. Composed during part of 1984-85, it was given its premiere under Pierre Boulez’s direction at the Albert Hall in London, July 26, 1985.

– Elliott Carter

Penthode for five groups of four instrumentalists

Recordings (3)