Dialogue

Dialogue (2005)
I. Introduction
II. Kotekan
III. Moto Perpetuo
Those familiar with Farr’s work will be aware of his love of Indonesia’s gamelan music. For
Dialogue, each of its three movements centre on an aspect of the gamelan playing style,
which includes interlocking techniques and virtuosic complexity with mixed meters and
fast syncopated rhythms. The first movement, Introduction, blends the resonant timbral
qualities of both instruments to ghostly effect, as rolled marimba chords mingle with a soft
vibraphone figure played con pedale. The roles are then switched somewhat, as vibraphone
chords punctuate downbeats while the marimba plays a stream of tuplets that leap
throughout the instrument’s upper range. The players then fall into interlocking semiquaver
rhythms, building to climax before returning to the eerie atmospherics of the movement’s
opening. Kotekan opens with elastic but unison rhythmic beating, which then alternates
with light, free flowing passages comprised of interlocking rhythmic patterns. Both playing
styles gradually elongate and develop throughout the movement. The final movement, Moto
Perpetuo, requires the players to navigate ever-changing meters while maintaining rhythmic
unison in an almost unbroken stream of pitches. As with the opening movement, the timbral
blending of the two instruments creates a bronze haze reminiscent of the gamelan ensembles
so treasured by Farr.
Dialogue was commissioned by the HRL Morrison Music Trust (with funding support from
Creative New Zealand). It received its premiere performance from Double Lateral (Jeremy
Fitzsimons and Kristie Ibrahim) at Ilott Theatre, Wellington, New Zealand on 2 October 2005.
A recording of Dialogue is available on Trust Records album Tangaroa (MMT2058).
PE083 – v