Ultroneous Baloney | Works

Waiting for inspiration to eventually turn up always poses the risk that the wait will last forever. An expedient technique for eliminating that risk, and to instantly plant a creative seed, is to pick one or more random words as your starting point, and then force yourself to create something in association with them.

In my case, a web app for yielding such a random word gave me (very fittingly) the word “Baloney”, roughly meaning nonsensical chitchat. In a way, music is often like baloney, in the sense that it is attempting to communicate something but without explicit meaning, although often with great emotion. Therefore, in this piece, the different instruments are communicating with each other, sharing a certain amount of syntactic expressions while going through a range of emotions, while the subject of conversation remains unknown; perhaps reminiscent of observing a conversation in a foreign language.

Work type: Composition
Year: 2020
Titles: Ultroneous Baloney (en)
Genres: Art music
Commissioned by: Mostly Modern Projects
Duration: 5′ 30″
Number of movements: 1
Instrumentation: Piano quartet; Full instrumentation (4 musicians)

Flute

Oboe

Clarinet in B flat

Piano

Recordings (2)

Exponential Ensemble performing Ultroneous Baloney by Fritiof Palm. (feat. Exponential Ensemble)

Roles: Composer
Release date: 2023-02-15
Duration: 5′ 36″
Genres: Art music
Featured works: Ultroneous Baloney
Featured events: Exponential Ensemble
Credits: Exponential Ensemble (musician)

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Ultroneous Baloney - Fritiof Palm | Mostly Modern Festival (feat. Exponential Ensemble)

Roles: Composer
Release date: 2022-08-17
Duration: 5′ 38″
Genres: Art music
Featured works: Ultroneous Baloney
Featured events: Exponential Ensemble
Credits: Exponential Ensemble (musician)

More info …

Performances (3)

first performance, finaleExponential Ensemble: 2022-06-09 19:30 UTC−04; Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY (US); Musician: Exponential Ensemble, event organizer: Mostly Modern Projects

Exponential Ensemble: 2022-11-17 19:30 UTC−05; Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (US); Musician: Exponential Ensemble

Dreamscapes: 2023-03-09 19:00 UTC−05; Christ & Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church, New York, NY (US); Musician: Exponential Ensemble