Ousu Doue/Ik-Ik Imi (Score Follower)

Recorded on February 5th, 2022 in MacIntosh Theater at University of Michigan.
Performers:
Violin I - Izzy Amador
Violin II - Xenia Gilbert
Viola - Josh Thaver
Cello - Maxwell Remmer
Flute - Tess Lauer
Oboe/English Horn - Jeff Langer
Clarinet - Oliver Bishop
Conductor - Dan Johnson

Ousu Doue/Ik-Ik Imi for mixed chamber ensemble was initially conceived as a joke. I wanted to write a set of comedic, abstract pieces for a few friends, based on gibberish generated by a computer. That piece was never finished, but as its ideas evolved so too did my understanding of the project I was undertaking. I became increasingly absorbed in the computer’s imitation of language, and eventually decided to adapt some of the sketches for that unfinished piece into a more fleshed out work. Ousu Doue/Ik-Ik Imi is an attempt to musically pronounce its own title: divided into two sections, each corresponding to a section of the title, the piece contrasts vast and slowly evolving textures with biting, rhythmic dissonance, mirroring the wide open mouth of “ousu doue” and the needling persistence of “ik-ik imi.”


- Ousu Doue/Ik-Ik Imi -

A concert hall fills with heads behind me.

Dust fills my nose,
The bitter air settles
on my tongue. It tastes
like Mahler.

Dress shoes plaster blisters
to the backs of my feet,
the jacket collar clenches
my throat - the stage stands only a few feet
away, waiting.

Can't I see what called me here?
Char blackened symbols on a staff—
stale sonatas started me.

After Mendelssohn, music met its maker -
Beethoven's symphonies are a universal language -
And now I'm tearing that language down.

Home is
the margin on a manuscript.