Simon Steen-Andersen (1976)

Double Up (2010)

for sampler and small orchestra

electronic work

  • General information
    • Composition date: 2010
    • Duration: 18 mn
    • Publisher: Edition·S
Detailed formation
  • 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 3 percussionists, harp, strings

Premiere information

  • Date: 17 October 2010
    Location:

    Allemagne, Donaueschingen, Donaueschinger Musiktage


    Performers:

    le Radio Kammerphilharmonie Hilversum, direction : Peter Eötvös.

Information on the electronics
Electronic device: échantillonneur - sampler

Program note

Doubling up is a risky strategy, but it can yield large returns (investopedia.com).

Double Up is both a term for a risky but potentially powerful investment/gambling strategy on the stock market or in the casino, and it is, of course, the term for what you get during happy hour in a bar. In this piece the term is meant to cover a similar range: From the drunken and sloppy but deeply felt sing-along to the more musical "power of unison" and the potentially rewarding effect of opening up something familiar for reinterpretation and re-experience by distorting or emphasizing its different elements or by presenting it in a new context.

The form is simply two halves exploring two types of linearity with the same material: The linearity of a trivial narrative and the linearity of the inherent musical qualities in the very same sounding snapshots.