Wake
for percussion duo (1997)
Wake composed in 1997, is commedia dell'arte
for a percussionist and a percussionist who mimes. Van der Aa examined to what
degree visual and audible parts could interfere in a virtual canon. Both percussionists
'play' the same material after each other. Wake has a sort of "Pierrot"
humour. The miming player has a tragicomic role of a floundering percussionist who
really wants to succeed but helplessly flails his arms about in the air. The
failed attempt to catch up with his companion and the idle hope of a resounding
result gives this humoristic piece a tragic undertone. You see his part on
the stage; you hear virtual labour pains in your head.
The instrumentation of the two players is almost identical, their function within
the piece however differs a lot. One of the percussionists mimes the entire piece,
he only makes the striking movements, the instruments aren't touched. The other
player does touch the instruments. The material in Wake is
exposed audible and visually. The connection of the two players becomes clear
by combining the inner hearing (translating the pretend movement to a sound)
and the acoustic hearing. It's not important thát the player mimes but what he
mimes, a remembrance to the material of the other player. Halfway through the
piece these remembrances develop into an autonomous form and the mime player
starts to influence the other player more and more.
Wake is published by Boosey & Hawkes. There is also a version for one player called Solo for percussion, published by Donemus