Esa-Pekka Salonen

Homunculus

He wanted to compose a piece that would be very compact in form and duration, but still contain many different characters and textures. In other words, a little piece that behaves like a big piece.

He has long been fascinated (and amused) by the arcane spermists? theory, who held the belief that the sperm was in fact a 'little man' (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child. This seemed to them to neatly explain many of the mysteries of conception. It was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus may have sperm of its own. This led to a reductio ad absurdum, with an endless chain of homunculi. This was not necessarily considered by spermists a fatal objection however, as it neatly explained how it was that 'in Adam' all had sinned: the whole of humanity was already contained in his loins.

He decided to call my piece Homunculus despite the obvious weaknesses of the spermists? thinking, as he found the idea of a perfect little man strangely moving. have to. ?Elvis Presley>Each example is supported by professional-standard charts, and the backing tracks are presented in MP3 format, allowing them to be used on Mac, PC, iPod and portable MP3 systems. urne Kelly Shaefer, lead singer for Big Machine Don Williams, fan in England who appears in an AC/DC video 'Pyro' Pete Cappadocia, pyro technician for AC/DC since 1982 Rick Brewster, guitarist for the Australian band, The Angels Mike Andy, tour Manager for AC/DC for four world tours from 1985-1995And so the music arrives at its emotional heart through a simple melody (present in other forms throughout the work) announced by solo cello at the very top of its register, against a quiet backdrop of horns and strings. A solo oboe enters, with cello in canonic reply, and all the time the music builds in texture and intensity, now with tubular bells joining in the joyful and optimistic conclusion..

Includes a 32-page music book containing a solo chart for each song containing the melody line and chord changes for proper improvisational playing of each song; plus a concert lead sheet giving the overall 'roadmap' for each piece, printed on high-quality ivory paper; and two compact discs containing the complete performance of these jazz combos in digitally mastered stereo; a digital stereo version of each piece minus the soloist; and a special -20% slow-tempo version of each accompaniment for practice purposes.