William Susman
The Starry Dynamo
Duration: 15'
Instrumentation details:
flute
clarinet
piano
violin
violoncello
The Starry Dynamo
Translation, reprints and more
William Susman
The Starry Dynamo
Available digitally
Orchestration: for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Violoncello and Piano
Type: Dirigierpartitur
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Work introduction
The inspiration for The Starry Dynamo comes from the opening lines of the poem HOWL by Allen Ginsburg, written from 1955 – 56 in San Francisco:
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery
of the night,
who poverty and tatters and hollowed-eyed and high sat
up smoking in the supernatural darkness of
cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities
contemplating jazz,
who barred their brains to Heaven under the El and
saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement
roofs illuminated.
The Starry Dynamo was commissioned by Alternate Currents, a San Francisco-based ensemble, that was active in the 1990s. The piece is scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. The rhythmic motives are inspired from Afro-Cuban music, especially the montuño, a repeated syncopated figure or ostinato. In Latin jazz bands, the montuño is typically emphasized by the pianist. In The Starry Dynamo, all the instrumentalists perform these montuño-like patterns.
The Starry Dynamo was composed during the summer of 1994. Duration: 15 minutes