About Christien Ledroit's Composition

                   Streamlined is a work of about 15 minutes duration for chamber orchestra (with electric guitar and digital audio). The entire piece was created from four basic musical fragments. These fragments are used both melodically and as "roots" for chord progressions, eventually streamlining melody and harmonic progression into one entity.

                   The piece is in four main sections, alternating between unmetered and metered. The main processes of the piece occur in the metered sections; the unmetered sections serve as points of repose. The first half of the piece moves through a set of "negative" moods (mysteriousness, melancholy, anger, violence) while the second section moves through a set of "positive" moods (sweetness, lightness, vibrancy, ecstasy). This dramatic structure mirrors the musical structure of the piece.

                   This piece is a summation of all the different techniques I've been developing over the last several years. One of the challenges of this work was to successfully combine seemingly contradicting styles and methods. A wide array of influences (and even some quotations) can be heard in the music, ranging from loud rock music to other contemporary (and not-so-contemporary) composers.

                   Esprit performance: Saturday, April 3, 2004 - Streamlined - Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto, Ontario