Beneath Lighted Coffers

Andy Akiho

General Info

Year:
Duration: c.
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Aki Rhythm Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Movements

I. Portico
II. Twenty-Eight
III. Oculus
IV. Corelli
V. Permanence

Instrumentation

Steel Pan
Orchestra

Program Notes

I. Portico Inspired by the Pantheon's portico, the entryway that one sees walking up a once narrow path to the building. The portico is inviting and unassuming, and the grandeur of the dome cannot be seen from afar, creating a somewhat unexpected experience in the rotunda. What captivates me most about the Greek-inspired entrance are the enormous, monolithic, Corinthian granite columns that were shipped from

II. Twenty-Eight The architecture mirrors the 140 trapezoidal coffers, or sunken panels, geometrically arranged in five concentric circles of twenty-eight in the Pantheon's concrete dome. The coffers create an optical illusion that draws the observer towards the dome's center, and they look different depending on the light of day streaming in through the oculus. Because the coffers are sunken voids within the concrete, they are also a critical part of the architectural structure of the large domed ceiling and evoke history, time, lightness, and possibility. Musically, I derived the melodic material of this movement from a 28-note palindromic scale that spans the entire range of the orchestra, and the structure of

III. Oculus The many different skies that appear through the oculus continually change the way the Pantheon is experienced. They inspired this central movement, whose music comes from a more personal and intuitive place, mimicking the unpredictable clouds and light variances above and through the exposed sky in the oculus. The oculus also acts as an architectural keystone, although it is a purely empty space that has held the entire unreinforced concrete dome together for nearly two thousand years. Like the oculus, this middle movement is central to the structure of the entire composition.

IV. Corelli The brief fourth movement drew inspiration from the Pantheon's marbled floor patterns and the music of the Italian Baroque composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), who is buried in the Pantheon. I have always been a fan of Corelli's chamber music, and I pay homage to him by alluding to the "Grave" movement from his Concerto Grosso No. 3. The original lays out a melodic line of 45 notes for the violin, which I associated with the 45 circles of the Pantheon's patterned marbled floor, imagining rain falling from the oculus above, shifting these notes and timbres around before disappearing in the drainage system beneath the floor.

V. Permanence Writers and historians often use adjectives like "permanence" and "progeny" to describe the Pantheon because it is the best-preserved and most influential building from ancient Rome: it has miraculously endured numerous years, storms, fires, wars, governments, barbarians, and popes. The Pantheon brings together the past and the future, and I am very grateful to have had an opportunity to experience the history of the building and its architectural greatness in writing this piece in the present day.

-Edited by Thomas May

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

21 (Steel Pan or Marimba, + Cello Version) - Marimba, Cello
Aka - Tenor Pan
Beneath Lighted Coffers - Steel Pan, Orchestra
Daidai Iro - Tenor Pan
Deciduous - Steel Pan, Violin
Hadairo (Beige) - Tenor Pan
Hip-hopracy - Percussion Nonet
I Fallen Two - Steel Pan, String Quartet
Intuition Expectation - Marimba, Trumpet
Ligneous 1 - Marimba, String Quartet
Ligneous 2 - Marimba, String Quartet
Ligneous 3 - Marimba, String Quartet
Macqueripe - Tenor Pan
Momo Iro - Tenor Pan
Murasaki (Purple) - Tenor Pan
Omnipresent - Tenor Pan
Phatamachickenlick - Percussion Duo Snare Drum Duo
Percussion Concerto (Ahiko)
Stop Speaking - Snare Drum, Digital Playback
to wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem - Percussion Octet

Seven Pillars

Pillar I - Percussion Quartet
Pillar II - Percussion Quartet
Pillar III - Percussion Quartet
Pillar IV - Percussion Quartet
Pillar V - Percussion Quartet
Pillar VI - Percussion Quartet
Pillar Vii
Amethyst - Vibraphone
carTogRAPh - Percussion
mARImbA - Glockenspiel
Spiel - Glockenspiel