Tansy Davies | Dark Ground | 2005 | 8'
Big percussion set-up
This work is promoted by DGCF but not commissioned.
Link for the score | Composer's website
Link for the video
Dark Ground inhabits an imaginary space where a ritual takes place. Davies sees the space as a circle, and within that circle, cyclic patterns and formations are enacted, each leaving a mark on the space, or an echo that resounds beneath what follows. Everything grows up from a root - the Pedal Bass Drum - a dead sound, with a cycle in a simple yet deceptive 7/8. The shapes and patterns that grow from the Bass Drum have directions of their own, but when they stray too far, they lose power and disappear. Like gravity, the Bass Drum pulls things to the ground.