Memos for a New Millennium – Oscar van Dillen

Memos for a New Millennium was created by Oscar van Dillen for disklavier and pianist (MIDI file for performances is available through the composer)

In this composition a balance and cooperation between man and machine is the central theme.

Memos for a New Millennium was inspired by Italo Calvino’s unfinished last work, “Six memos for the next millennium”.

Calvino’s titles run respectively:

LIGHTNESS
QUICKNESS
EXACTITUDE
VISIBILITY
MULTIPLICITY
CONSISTENCY (not written)

I took the liberty to supplement Calvino’s intended lectures with a seventh memo of my own: Clarity.

The musically chosen logical order is different from the one in its literary predecessor:

VISIBILITY
QUICKNESS
EXACTITUDE
CONSISTENCY
CLARITY
LIGHTNESS
MULTIPLICITY

The inherent mutual coherence however does not allow for separate (musical) parts.

A live performance should if possible contain a live video-beamer projection on the back wall of the (whole) concert hall, the camera mounted to the ceiling taking an exactly vertical look at the clavier (player’s hands) and the hammers (mechanic).

Note: next to the usual G- and F-clefs, octavating G- and F-clefs are used!

A MIDI-file for performance of this work is available through the composer.

Special thanks to Juan Felipe Waller who gave me Calvino’s book as a present in 2001.

Memos for a New Millennium (score in pdf)

first performed by Maarten van Veen in Lantaren/Venster, Rotterdam, 23 April 2002