WINGATE: METAPHYSICAL MONOLOGUES
Nos. 1 - 11

NOTES ON THE SET:

The Metaphysical Monologues (or ‘MetaMons’ for short) are a series of eleven short études for solo instruments which explore the liminal spaces of pitch serialism. Many eschew the fashionable habit of contemporary solo pieces, in which the music is hidden behind all manner of extended techniques, and instead give primary focus to matters of pitch, but this by no means lessens their considerable virtuosic demands. Even the noble gong, an ostensibly non-pitched instrument, receives its own peculiar serialist treatment in the eleventh Monologue. These philosophical statements in musical form are clothed in the sonic raiment of some of the composer’s favorite instruments, and humbly attempt to give a fresh expression to that elusive ‘ineffable’ which so many philosophers claim to be among the chief powers that music possesses.

(Please click the links to the individual Monologues below for more information and audio samples, where available:)