Instrumentation
Percussion (1 player), violin, cello and piano.
A conductor is optional but recommended, in addition to the 4 players. Ensemble amplification is specified in the score.
Percussion requirements
The percussionist moves between three stations:
- Drums: kick drum, bass drum, 4 toms, snare drum, cowbell, hi-hat, splash, stack, crash and china cymbals; optional tam-tam.
- Vibraphone.
- 5-octave marimba with kick drum.
Listen
Scores & Performance Materials
Program Note
“The spread of civilisation may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.” ―Nikola Tesla, What Science May Achieve This Year (1910)
To be asked to compose a barnburner of a program closer for the great Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Land’s End Ensemble is unquestionably an honor – and also a challenge, one to which I rose with great joy. As a metal guitarist by training and temperament, I am inevitably inclined to try to write the most powerful, virtuosic, metal piece I can.
Incinerate takes its spark from a single groove, or rhythmic pattern, that haunted my thoughts and dreams for months. Its propulsive drive and angular, off-kilter profile insisted upon my consciousness with a persistence that I could not ignore or suppress: this had to be the heart of the piece.
Like Prometheus’s initial flame taking on a life of its own and leading to the spread of a civilization, this musical spark sets off tentatively at the top, presented first by the piano in abbreviated form amongst the kindling of the percussion’s steady patter. Quickly that spark cascades across the musical texture, becoming all-consuming as the piece’s narrative leads to dramatic crescendos, dreamy soundscapes, and violent breakdowns.
My deepest thanks to Evelyn Glennie and to Vincent Ho for making this project happen and entrusting me with the metaphorical lighter with which to spark our shared conflagration.
—HS | www.hstafylakis.com
Commission and premiere
Commissioned by the Land’s End Ensemble with the support of Walt and Irene DeBoni and the SOCAN Foundation. Premiered October 1, 2022 by Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Land’s End Ensemble, Karl Hirzer conducting, at Bella Concert Hall, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.