Audivi Media Nocte. Oliver Waespi, Brass Band

Audivi Media Nocte, Waespi - Brass Band Stemmesett og Partitur

Commissioned by the Swiss Brass Band Association for the 34th European Brass Band Contest 2011, Montreux, Switzerland
Test piece Championship Section with the kind financial support of the Swiss Wind Band Federation

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Programme note:

Whilst composing Audivi Media Nocte I was driven by several conflicting musical ideas. On the one hand, I was partly inspired by the sixteenth-century motet by Thomas Tallis from which the piece draws its title. Talliss motet
is sung primarily on All Saints Day, and its title means I heard, at midnight .... Having remembered and cherished this motet for many years, I felt it was time to let it finally have an influence on my own music. On the
other hand, I experienced the need for a considerable kinetic energy in order to outweigh the calm, contemplative flow of the motet and to place Talliss music into a more contemporary context. Hence, various rhythmical motifs
began to emerge, some of which were in turn secretly related to the rhythmical structure of the motet. Moreover,I developed a series of chords whose harmony constitutes a counterpoint to the modal background of the motet.
Gradually, the piece developed a character of its own, loosely connected to the mystical imagery of the night, hiding our secret passions and regrets. It evolved into an instrumental drama rather than a set of variations,
including elements of a concerto grosso, as groups of soloists are featured in quite unusual ways. The sonic character of a brass band, with its preponderance of heavy, low registers, its lyrical potential and its ability to
shape compact rhythmical gestures, proved favourable to my musical intentions.

Audivi Media Nocte thus became a musical tale that oscillates somehow between past and present, between contemplation and frivolity, between
prayer and rave