inertia
(2024)

Programme Notes

"inertia" is a physical property of any object where it is reluctant to change its state of motion or at rest unless an external force is applied on it. this piece is about the musicalisation of this physics concept and is imitated through various musical gestures. by treating the sound world as an object, punctuations behave like external forces in an inertial frame to push the music forward from its current state, which is reminiscent of the idea of Newton's 1st law. as force is defined as the rate of change of momentum, the gain in momentum and pacing of certain parts of the music imitate this increase in external force. erratic slides juxtaposed with regular rhythm heard seem to formulate the contrast between the inertial and non-inertial frames of reference of this object. towards the end, as too much work has been done previously, there appears to be a stark drop in energy towards the end of the piece. hence, this remaining energy is exhausted to overcome the object's moment of inertia.

from a larger perspective, this music is highly energy-driven and loud to portray this picture of "big ball of sound", a term which Bertram has used in describing some of his music. this "big ball" persisted close to the end till the depletion in energy is explicitly heard – an approach to show how this sound world has morphed; and in a physics sense, a way to musicalise the idea of Conservation of Energy. certain choreographic aspects can be seen to exaggerate this musicalisation. overall, this piece serves as an aural and visual punch for one's adrenaline rush.

Performances

23/3/2024 - Young Composer's Festival: performed by weirdaftertaste (keyboard: Lynette; cello: Jun Sian; viola: Christoven; electronics: Bertram) PREMIERE