For Ensemble Pamplemousse's Blocks Tour 2009, we developed a large multi-work structure between six composers contributing pieces which in some way interact with the other pieces on the program. Some composers wrote layer based material, which would intertwine with other music happening at the same time, while some wrote blocks that would disrupt, or fragment other music.

For my contribution, I composed this cycle of twelve "interruption blocks". Each block is one system long, and can occur in any order; in succession, or as momentary occurrences between other musics. These are numbered 1-12 in the score, and are included here as parts to emphasize the non-linear-ness of performance.

The first six modules are in meter, and are sonically like a needle being placed on a record for a moment and then lifted back up. The second set is performed more independently, with gaps in the staves indicating short flexible pauses in which the material can be shifted freely in time.

I think of these blocks almost as legos which can be rearranged to form different architectural structures. Musically the material in the blocks hovers in a particular sound world, and spread out over the course of a 45-60 minute set of other modular blocks - attempts to create a sense of a large-scale and slow moving atmosphere in which the other modules surface and re-submerge.

Score:PDF