Destroy: Information Only
Dan Lander
Programme notes
The title Destroy
Synopsis
•• This work begins with Employment, with its drone as metaphor for the tedium of the job, a song for hope — We Shall Overcome — and the sound of objects crashing together as an indicator of industrial violence and, in this case, injury. As a prelude to the larger work, Employment serves to provide a quasi musical setting for the digestion of what is to come.
•• Marvin, in the privacy of his own apartment, makes coffee before reminiscing on the time following the accident. His primary memory appears to be linked to the acknowledgment of pain. However, he quickly digresses to involve himself with a video game, a diversion perhaps, from both the past and the present.
•• Yvonne (mother) speaks of memories linked to her maternal intuition and also of her own back operation. She relates the story of feeling shivers up her spine at the exact moment the surgeon’s knife is inserted into the back of her son.
•• In Loon, flatulence becomes a metaphor for the loss of control of bodily function in general. As each wind passes, a new relationship to it is developed through the conversation of fellow campers.
•• Dave does not remember much. He speaks of the importance of rock and roll, complains about the price of concert tickets for Yes and describes a Hollywood film set, all while making popcorn.
•• In the following section a creaking door, equipped with bells, triggers a spasmodic utterance of the word Spasm, drawing a relationship between the mechanical and the emotional.
•• Memory is consciously activated by Darlene (sister) as she and her brother drive through and discuss an area they grew up in. However, when it comes to the events in question she freely admits her lapses, stating “it is fuzzy.”
•• Raising and butchering chickens is a topic that Ann discusses before elaborating on a car accident in which she herself suffered no small amount of pain, prompting her to conclude, “I wish I could forget.”
•• Finally we have Dan, who, while traveling on a bus, relates a story concerning eagles who eat the afterbirth of cows until they can no longer function and need the attention of a veterinarian. He concludes with a series of statements about a face and his own unwillingness to recognize the passage of time and his immanent old age.
Destroy
Premiere
- July 1991, Radio Contortions
: Concert, Montréal (Québec)
- Composer(s): Dan Lander
- Year of composition: 1991
- Duration: 33:33
- Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- ISRC: CAD509511600
Movements
Employment
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Marvin
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Yvonne
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Loon
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Dave
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Spasm
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Darlene
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Ann
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
Dan
-
Movement of:
Destroy
: Information Only
