Mehmet Okonsar

Kaleidoscopes: Three Pieces for Various Instruments Mehmet Okonsar 1. izdevums

Kaleidoscopes, is a series of pieces created on one unique tone-row using its various modifications. The tone-row is from Alban Berg's violin concerto ("To The Memory of an Angel"): G-B-flat-D-F-sharp-A-C-E-G-sharp-B-c-sharp-D-F. But that tone-row is not used here in a very strict and formal way. Often "forbidden" octave intervals and note repetitions are used here for acoustical and instrumental reasons. As all tone-rows created by Alban Berg, this famous one has also many unique features. The first striking aspect of it is the very symmetrical structure, emphasising the use of 3 step intervals. Towards the end, for the last 4 notes, the intervals are further condensed into whole-tones. Those last four notes of the row, as a short whole tone scale, are used as pivot notes in main structural points all through the composition. Specially the C sharp and D sharp tones are used as a mid-range pedal chord through a large portion of the first composition. The tone row is used without any transposition for those pieces. Rhythmical elements are created from the apparent subdivisions of the tone-row. The row may be thought of as divided into 3 sections having 5-4 and 3 notes each. A rhythmical pattern, based on numbers 5-4-3 is created from that subdivision. This pattern is used thoroughly during the development part of the pieces.