Composer Institute: Stephen Wilcox, Cho-Han

Cho-Han is a Japanese dice game based on the opposition of even and odd numbers.  Interested in examining duality and conflict as they may relate to the grieving process, Wilcox has written a sort of eulogy for a friend who had originally encouraged him to compose for the full resources of a large orchestra.  Cho-Han is formally divided into two sections: one, a raucous, tense, extroverted musical wail, and the other a quieter, contemplative concatenation of delicate and transient melodic ideas.  Throughout its duration, though, the piece sustains the irreconcilable clash between these two halves.  Like a die perpetually in motion, Cho-Han always spins and tumbles and seldom lands, its dizzying effects brave and deeply affecting.

The piece opens with a raunchy fanfare for three trumpets.  In rehearsal, Osmo gripped his baton with both hands and swung it like a machete slashing through thick jungle brush in the ensuing build-up of orchestral activity.  Although Cho-Han is not based on a serial system of composition, the Klangfarbenmelodie of the Second Viennese School seems to influence its orchestration: colors swirl, mix, and retreat with great, sometimes staggering frequency.  The generally heavy orchestral texture, dominated by violins and brass, is broken by a strand of cello and English horn melody to introduce the slower, softer section.

Wispy solos for oboe, English horn, clarinet, and horn follow.  Wilcox proves himself to be equally adept at writing subtle, gentle phrases like these and the cacophonous, dramatic material of the introduction.  This quite beautiful section gradually intensifies through the erosion of its rhythmic cohesion; miasmatic, troubled chords shift out of unison and the piece draws to a rich, tightly wrought conclusion.  The contrabassoon figures prominently in the piece's final melodic fragments, its deep and rumbling voice perhaps signifying new calm and rest despite the earlier constant barrage of conflicted and challenging messages.  Cho-Han is a satisfyingly complex, wondrously complete journey.  After his experiences at the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, Stephen Wilcox has vowed to throw himself into another orchestral composition, and we should be eager to hear what he has to share next.