Diabolic Machines - solo piano (2010)
Instrumentation: solo piano.
Duration: 9 minutes.
Commissioned by: Zubin Kanga.
Premiere: Zubin Kanga at Bad Blood, 18.03.11. Sydney, Australia.
ALBUM/TRACK: purchase here.
SCORE: purchase here.
PROGRAM NOTE: Diabolic Machines consists of a series of gadgets and mechanisms. When writing the pieces I had the image of a large machine made up of smaller machines. The machinery had no specific purpose, but would be forever running.
Diabolic Machines was written for the talents of Zubin Kanga.
PRESS:
Anthony Moles's Diabolic Machines was a virtuosic showstopper, ending in a Mephistophelian reminiscence of Liszt's first Mephisto Waltz.
- Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald
Anthony Moles . . . might be said to gravitate towards the minimalist end of the spectrum in his Diabolic Machines. As Kanga remarks, it is probably the most traditionally virtuosic work in the collection, generating huge momentum through its layering of ostinatos, but containing moments of lapidary stillness at its centre.
- Gordon Kerry, The Music Trust
I must now reference Anthony Moles’ “Diabolic Machines” – which WAS diabolic – yet also recognisable and enjoyable.
- Sue Liu, ClassikON
It develops into something of an old-fashioned exploitation of piano virtuoso sonorities, repeated toccata motifs topped and bottomed by brief reflecting bursts of action. The moto perpetuo stops as Moles takes us into a slower version of the opening where two invention-type lines run against each other to a muted, sustained-pedal wash into stasis. Naturally, the ferment returns, the lines positioned at either end of the keyboard and building to a fine climax using the opening violin-tuning motif from Liszt’s first Mephisto Waltz as a constructional tool before a sudden cut back to reveal the invention lines very soft and out of sync at the top of the keyboard, Moles’ machines reaching a futile, inoperative demise. It’s the sort of work that Michael Kieran Harvey delights in, here carried off with considerable brio and a keen awareness of its opportunities for variety in a pretty tight structure.
- Clive O’Connell, O’Connell the Music
