WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS.
Paul Alexander Lessard
Ensemble: Wind Ensemble
Duration: 10:00
Year of Composition: 2021
Commissioned by: University of Toronto Wind Ensemble
Publisher: self-published
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Composer
Links:
Piccolo
Flutes 1,2
Oboe
English Horn
Bassoons 1,2
Contrabassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2,3
B♭ Bass Clarinet
B♭ Soprano Sax
E♭ Alto Sax
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2,3
F Horns 1,2,3,4
Trombones 1,2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion 1-5
Program Notes:
WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS. was composed in 2021 for Gillian MacKay and the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. It is a reaction to the trend of crowbarring extra-musical meaning into works for little to no artistic reason, and often at the expense of musical quality. Even worse are pieces that were written with no outside context, but were then ascribed some after the fact to score intellectual / academic credit when none was truly earned. In lieu of such a tactic, WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS. falls back on the time-honored tradition of simply being (an attempt at) a competent, well-structured work anchored on contemporary updates to classical ideals of form, counterpoint, and melody.
The title WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS. was drawn from Zero Punctuation, a video series by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. In a video criticizing the game Halo Wars, Croshaw juxtaposes himself shouting “BULL. F*CKING. SH*T.” with a graphic displaying the significantly less profane “WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS.” Given the impetus for this work, the title seemed appropriate.
I could have pretended that this piece was based on Monet’s The Castle at Dolceacqua, with the opening trombone theme representing the imposition of the castle on the landscape, contrasting with the lightness of the surrounding colours rendered by the secondary chorale theme and woodwind flourishes.
But that, of course, would be “WHAT. ARBITRARY. SILLINESS.”
(Program note by Paul Alexander Lessard)
