'Klonos' by Piet Swerts

[pic 1][pic 2][pic 3]

‘KLONOS’

Piet Jozef Swerts

Vadim Tkachuk

Bachelor in Music – saxophone

Professor: Anne Pustlauk

Academic Year 2021-2022

Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen

AP Hogeschool Antwerpen

Table of Contents

1        Introduction        4

2        Background information        5

3        Comparison of manuscripts / editions        6

4        Performance Practice        8

5        Historical Instruments        9

6        Conclusion        10

7        Bibliography        11

1. Introduction

“Klonos” for me is one of the revolutionary pieces in the classical saxophone world, written by Piet Swerts, who I met at one of my international competitions. This piece is a mix of free-jazz and academic classical saxophone genres. It is full of ‘surprises’ and contrasts, has a wild character and an unusual energy.

In the last decades, the saxophone repertoire has had a great boom, thanks to different composers who have been interested in exploring composers who have been interested in widely exploring the timbral, expressive, and technical possibilities of this instrument, and have adapted it to different styles within academic music. Among them: Christian Lauba, Edison Denisov, Ryo Noda, and Piet Swerts, just to name a few.

In recent years, Piet Swerts has been one of the leading composers for saxophone. Swerts' works comprises various styles and formats such as chamber music, orchestral, four-hand piano orchestra, piano four hands and saxophone, and piano accompaniment, among others.^[1]

Piet Swerts considers himself autodidactic in his compositional development.^[2] Autodidactic is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “self-directed learning”^[3], and Swerts adheres to this definition by using independent research as the core of his compositional development. Many of Swerts’ pieces share similarities in form, tonality, and melodic structure. As a result, his compositions are easily identified.^[4]

Swerts considers form to be of outmost importance in his works. While he is a 20th century composer who uses modern compositional techniques, he frequently follows traditional forms. The composer frequently uses imitation in his compositions. He often repeats melodic and harmonic motives to create a sense of musical unity. Pan-chromaticism, defined as “Tonal ambiguity in harmony and melody through the use of chromatic movement and polyphony” ^[5], is employed by Swerts in much of his music. This technique creates the illusion of atonality, or “the absence of tonality”,^[6] while still maintaining a key center. Swerts commonly utilizes pan-chromaticism to create a ‘rising’ effect. This is produced through the gradual increase in musical pitch and is frequently accompanied by growing dynamics or an accelerando. The composer employs musical cells, defined as “small motives consisting of simple rhythmical gestures or pitch sets”,^[7]   in his compositions. His pieces can often be traced back to several small cells that are developed throughout the work.

1. Background information

Piet Jozef Swerts was born on November 14, 1960 in Tongeren, Belgium and is international composer, conductor, and pianist. His complete compositional output exceeds over 200 works for orchestra, solo instrument, chamber ensemble, voice, and piano.^[8]

Klonos for alto saxophone and piano was composed by Piet Swerts in 1993. It was his first composition written for solo saxophone and piano accompaniment.^[9] Klonos has been recorded on several professional CDs, including Brilliance by Duo Gaulin-Riverin,^[10] Saxophone Caprices by Koryun Asatryan,^[11] and Memories of Dinant by Otis Murphy.^[12]

Commissioned by the Foundation Dr Ir.Th. P. Tromp Music Competition for the Benelux in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Klonos served as a compulsory piece for the 1994 competition. The Tromp Music Competition is an international music competition and percussion festival that takes place biannually in Eindhoven, Netherlands. This competition was founded by Dr. Theo Philibert Tromp, a Dutch politician and businessman. It has since become part of the World Federation of International Music Competitions and has gained status as a competition of great prestige.^[13]

The Greek term “klonos” refers to an intense muscle spasm or contraction. Swerts associates this with the cripple-like motion saxophone players make when performing a challenging technical passage. ^[14] In the album insert of ‘Memories of Dinant’, Otis Murphy includes a quote from Swerts describing the significance of the title of Klonos:

“ ‘Klonos’ (1993), a Greek word, refers – says Swerts – to “a cramp-like contraction of the muscles, associated with the heavy movements that some saxophonists make during the fire of playing (for example, think about free jazz)...The work is... a bravura-like fantasy with a more subtle, yet intense middle section. ‘Klonos’ finishes with a wild, even more virtuosic reprise. For the gifted saxophonist, it is quite a ride.” ^[15]

In 1993, his violin concerto ‘Zodiac’ was selected out of 154 works from 28 countries as the compulsory concerto for the finals of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition for Violin. For this piece, he received the Grand Prix in the International Queen Elisabeth Composition Competition, 1993 (the first Belgian composer to win the prize). Included in the jury at the competition that year were Henryk Górecki and Franco Donatoni. In the same year, a double CD of the world première performance of his ‘Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Marcum’ for four soloists, chorus and large orchestra (composed in 1988-89 and first performed in 1993) was released. In 1994, the international organization Jaycies awarded him as one of the Ten Outstanding Young People.