Fake N.E.W.S. by Pierre Hafteck

By Pierre Hafteck

Grade Level: 5

This piece, originally written for an “East-West” festival in Hong Kong, evokes Far Eastern and Western musical patterns or sonorities: a little pentatonic jig in the first section, a meditative melody in the second – a theme that could belong in a Japanese animated feature or video game? – while the third section goes West of the Atlantic to borrow Cuban-inspired patterns. The icy North is also alluded to from the beginning through the crystalline timbre of a bowed vibraphone, while a caliente South offers the backdrop of the last section.

The first four notes of the piece should almost sound like “East, South, West, North” to the ears of a Mandarin speaker (complemented by two more: Heaven/Up and Earth/Down). Their apparent modern atonality merges into a V9b5b13 chord leading to the second section. These four (or six) notes are quoted throughout the piece by several instruments and spelled out again at the Coda, this time as elements of the final Im6/9 chord.

Why “Fake” in the title? Because the melody that should sound like a ryuteki (wooden flute) is actually coming from two bowed marimbas –a fun challenge for the performers in terms of technicality, musicality, and coordination.