Commissioned by cellist Holly Reeves of the Anacapa Quartet.
view score
Solo cello
3 flutes
Choir I: oboe, horn, trumpet, trombone, 1 perc, violin*, 2 contrabass
Choir II. clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, 1 perc, violin*, 2 contrabass
* The violin parts may be performed by a single player, or preferably by a very small section (3-5 players per Choir).
NOTES:
From
the very first note of Occam’s
razor, several expectations about what a concerto should
be are questioned, though not necessarily totally rejected throughout
the piece. The unique sound of the orchestra (no violas or
cellos, four contrabasses) is further emphasized by the physical
arrangement: three flutes placed center stage, and the remainder of the
orchestra divided into two equal ensembles seated on either side of the
stage, framing the soloist.
Occam's razor
was commissioned by cellist Holly Reeves of the Anacapa Quartet, and
was a Winner of the ASCAP Grants to Young Composers Award.
Occam, William of, also spelled “Ockham,” by-name
Doctor Invincibilis (ca.1285-1349), Franciscan philosopher, theologian,
political writer, and founder of a form of Nominalism – the
school of thought that denies that universal concepts have any reality
apart from the individual things signified by the universal or general
term.
After his early training in a Franciscan convent, Occam’s
theories and opinions regarding both theological and philosophical
issues became progressively more radical, resulting in his expulsion
from Oxford University and his eventual excommunication from the
Church. He spent the remainder of his life alternating
between flight from papal persecution and periods of protection under
various rulers. Nevertheless, he continued his studies and
writing, and his philosophies became influential in the medieval
philosophical community.
The driving principle behind Occam’s logic, and indeed all
this theological and philosophical theories, was that of non sunt multiplicanda entia
præter necessitatem; i.e., entities are not to
be multiplied beyond necessity. Although this principle was
invoked by other medieval philosophers and scientists, Occam mentioned
it so frequently and employed it so sharply that it came to be called
“Occam’s razor.”
He used it, for instance, to dispense with motion, which is merely the
reappearance of a thing in a different place; with efficient casuality,
which he viewed merely as regular succession; and with relations, which
he held to be simply the inherent (yet not necessary) results of the
interactions between any given separate objects. Similarly,
time itself is not an entity separate from things in time, for without
the existing things themselves, time, in our sense, would not exist..
LM
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"But in fact the heart of the concert, for this listener, was an unassuming piece [Rosetta stone] by Lansing D. McLoskey - the "D" standing perhaps for dense, demanding, daring. ... The opening was an explosively metric movement of terrifying complexity and jagged irregularity. Balancing it was a second movement of rounded, mantralike piano clusters interspersed with lyrical lines in the treble instruments. McLoskey... created a magical sonority throughout this mysterious but thought-provoking piece."
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