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Programme Note

PRELUDE TO BREAKING (1986) for sinfonietta
The title quotes a book on wave forms (Willard Bascom: ´Waves and Beaches´, 1980), characterizing the surf-effect as a multitude of ´sub whirls´ in harmonic speed to each other. When this synchronicity tops over in accelerations of the individual tempos it is called ´Prelude to Breaking´.
The bass-continuous melody is perceived by the composer as a manifestation of the surf-phenomenon at a beach in Cualam, Kerala (India). Each second a new front of impressive length - up to hundreds of meters - breaks almost simultaneously all along, the many together producing a sound as from hundreds of lions, out of which to my ear was heard firstly: a fundamental and all its overtones, secondly: a 14 beat bass-(or rather all registers encompassing) melody. The three other motives have other stories - but all, like the mentioned one - possessing a feature of ´objets trouvées´, of treasures found.
A mezzosoprano might ad lib. sing a fragment of the composer´s “Composition” (text by G. Ekelöf) in the coda of “Prelude to breaking” (notated in the score).
The instrumental work might be played as a prelude to the choral song “Composition” (text by G. Ekelöf) with the title “Prelude to breaking – and to Composition”. Finally, the instrumental work might also be played as a prelude to the choral work “3 Hymniske Ansatser” (3 Hymnic Dispositions): 1.´Composition´, 2.´Strandvalmue´(´Beach Poppy´), 3.´Die Parke´(´The Parks´) – the choral work sung after “Prelude to breaking”.
Per Nørgård

Note: The last section (about the Mezzosoprano and the combination of pieces) might be used or not used, ad libitum.