WINGATE: METAPHYSICAL MONOLOGUE NO. 11 
for Gong Solo

Date:
2023

Duration:
7'

Notes:
The Metaphysical Monologue No. 11 for unaccompanied gong solo is perhaps the most idiosyncratic outlier of the MetaMon series, as it threatens to take the composer’s distinctive practice of pitch serialism to a possibly impossible and absurd theoretical conclusion; Wingate has arranged the piece’s materials into what he calls ‘pitch realms’ rather than using specific pitches, and it is these units which are arranged into serialist permutations. The actual musical result of all this is a contemplative meditation for unaccompanied gong with the theoretical materials hidden in unhurried, introspective gestures. Yet the piece is also propelled gently forward by subtly sonorous rhythmic themes imbued with the gravitas of their own necessary simplicity.

 

For this unique piece, the noble orchestral Tam-Tam (or Chau Gong) of indeterminate pitch is elegantly coaxed to produce an astonishing array of variegated rumblings, fricative whisperings, and even voice-like apparitions via sundry beaters, brushes, and mallets of all sorts. A bass bow (perhaps a nod to the Metaphysical Monologue No. 9) is also deployed along the gong’s edge for some quietly cuivré exhalation-like utterances. As an understated showpiece for solo percussion, this Metaphysical Monologue rounds out the MetaMon set obliquely, abandoning (or perhaps transcending?) the twelve tones in an open-ended gesture towards the many quiet mysteries of the universe.