About Chris Paul Harman's Composition

                   AXLE was commissioned in 1998 by the Esprit Orchestra through the Canada Council for the Arts. The piece is dedicated to Alex Pauk for his tireless support of my music (and that of many other Canadian composers) through the Esprit Orchestra.

                   On the concert where AXLE was premiered, Alex Pauk was also slated to have the premiere of his new Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. In preparing the source material for my own work, I created a twelve note pitch set which reflects the most prominent melodic characteristics in Alex's concerto, as well as certain rhythmic figurations from the solo harp part which are heard in the faster movements. The instrumentation between our two works is almost identical, except that the harp is completely absent in my piece.

                   The unfolding of the pitch set or the rhythmic figurations determines the structure within each of some sixteen short sections, as well as guiding other elements such as harmony. As one of my early 'fragment pieces', these sections are separated by timed silences of varying length. In addition, the weighting of the orchestration is treated in a purposefully 'terraced' and highly localized manner from section to section, creating a decentralized sense of the scale of the instrumental forces. The dramatic arc in the work is likewise decentralized and non-linear.

                   Note written by Chris Paul Harman, July 2003

                   Esprit performance: Sunday, May 2, 2004 - Radio Waves Matinee - Glenn Gould Studio, as part of CBC/Radio Netherlands Dutch Music Week