Lila

Per Nørgård's Lila, for Chamber Ensemble.

The composer writes of his work:

Lila is a Sanskrit word for playing with the elements, and I chose it as thetitle of the chamber work I composed in 1972 because its coolly systematic play (with overtones and undertones in the infinity sequences and a spectrum of Golden Sections in the rhythms) is characteristic of the period just beforeI wrote my Third Symphony (1973-75).The work was given its first performance in Venice, in the Teatro La Fenice on 9th September 1972, alongside Kagel’s Anagram, from which Lila borrowed its instrumentation, since itwascommissioned for a first performance by the Prisma Ensemble along with Anagram, with Tamas Vetö, to whom it is dedicated, conducting.

Ensemble: 4 percussionists (gong, 3 tam-tams, crotales,glockenspiel, tubular bells, celesta, vibraphone, xylophone), 2 pianos, 2 harps, flute (as well as flute in G and piccolo), B flat clarinet (and bass clarinet).