works » orchestral
Hypercolor
for symphonic orchestra
3(Picc.), 2+E.h., 2+B.Cl., 2+C.b.; 4,3,3,1; Timp.+3; Hp.; Pno.; Str
Commissioned by John Adams and Deborah O’Grady through the Pacific Harmony Foundation for the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Year Composed: 2018
Duration: 0:07:15
Premiere: 8/11/2018; Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; Cristian Măcelaru, conductor; Santa Cruz, California
Program Notes:
Hypercolor is a self-portrait of elusive wakefulness and sleep states. Concentrated pigments of disparate musical languages, moods, and timbres flow in rapid-fire succession: from the synthetic boost of caffeine-riddled energy augmented by the polished vibrancy and hip-hop-inflected borrowings of my shameless K-Pop gym playlist; to the sterilizing mid-afternoon brain fog epitomized by focused, off-kilter repetitions; to the bouts of euphoria awash in lush and soft-focus strings; to being restlessly flung into and out of the vast and fragile suspension of temporality through gentle whisperings in Yoga Nidra sleep meditations. A common Yoga Nidra tool involves counting backwards to 0, represented in the orchestra by the string quartet on a G major scale, whose journey to the top of the scale is relentlessly thwarted by the rest of the orchestra. All of these transient moments reshape and synthesize into a singular body, at once in deep trance and teeming with inundating hyperactivity.
Reviews:
“Shin is a master of bizarre instrumental sounds. Creaks, groans, whistles, squiggles, squeals, and squeaks littered the music, often abruptly and humorously dying away.”
“The evening’s youngest composer, Peter S. Shin, described how Hypercolor depicts sleep issues. His excitement about the performance was contagious and appeared to affect the audience reaction at the beginning of the piece….The theatricality of the piece gives it a sense of physicality that is often slapstick but also, at times, a bit disturbing.”