What happens when a musical joke about a mooing cow leads to a remarkable coincidence involving world-renowned composer John Adams? The answer is Blink Blink: a short, impulsive composition for wind ensemble and piano that captures a shared, fleeting moment in music history.
for musicians and concert programmers
About the Composition
The story behind Blink Blink is a series of coincidences that created an unexpected connection between a young composer and a great master.
A Haiku and a Surprised Master
It all began when the American composer John Adams visited a composition class at the Amsterdam Conservatory. There, he came across the score for Hai Koe, a playful piece by Renske Vrolijk based on the following self-written “haiku”:
HAI KOE
Renske Vrolijk
Moo, that’s what cows say
yet when a person walks past,
“Hi” they might have said.
Hai Koe featured recordings of mooing cows. A few years later, something unexpected happened. Indeed, John Adams also used a sample of a mooing cow in his clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons. This remarkable choice felt like a wink, a shared experience across the boundaries of status and country. A wink that called for a response.
A Fleeting Homage in the Concertgebouw
That response became Blink Blink: a short homage, composed on impulse for the occasion of the Dutch premiere of Adams’s Christmas oratorio, El Niño.
After the dress rehearsal in the Main Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, John Adams stepped off the podium, only to be surprised with the score for Blink Blink, handed to him personally.
In 2005, the work received its world premiere during the Ostrava Days Festival, performed by Ostravská Bandá and conducted by Zsolt Nagy.
In 2005, Ostravská Bandá performed the world premiere during the Ostrava Days Festival under the baton of conductor Zsolt Nagy.
For performers
Instruments:
2cl, bcl, 2hn,
2tpt, 2tbn,
pf, susp.cym
Duration:
3′
Year:
2002
Premiere:
24 August 2005
Janáček
Conservatory
Ostrava
Category:
6-18 musici
Language:
—
Lyricist:
—
Are you interested in performing this work? Please contact my publisher.
Renske’s sheet music
is published by Deuss Music.
Listen to Blink Blink for wind ensemble
Ostravská Bandá conducted by Zsolt Nagy