Last winter/spring, I had an exciting opportunity to perform with the Pacific Rim Gamelan at the University of Oregon. This eclectic ensemble, established 20 years ago by director Robert Kyr, has a very exciting legacy of both traditional and non-traditional gamelan music composed by members of the ensemble. When it was announced that we were given the opportunity to compose for a combination of instruments and gamelan, I considered a few possibilities – saxophone quartet perhaps… or string quartet. I decided to opt for an instrument that I have loved since childhood, the didjeridu. Todd Johnson, a didjeridu virtuoso based in Eugene, was thrilled at the opportunity to collaborate with a gamelan ensemble that he had previously written for and performed with. His album, “Dronedance” is a compilation of original compositions – some meditative, some groovy, all beautiful – for this instrument, said to be the voice of the earth in its purest form.

In “When one world ends…”, I wanted to capture Todd’s vibrant sound, passion for improvisation, and stunning virtuosity while allowing the sound of the gamelan to emerge from the drone of the didjeridu in many facets such as call and response, improvisation, and motivic development.

Recording [excerpt]:

“When one world ends…”
Brandon Rumsey, composer
Todd Johnson, didjeridu

Premiered on May 21, 2011 by the UO Pacific Rim Gamelan under the direction of Robert Kyr.

Instrumentation: 4 kantilan, 4 pemadé, 2 jublag, 2 jegogan, ugal, reong, kajar, cengceng, 4 angklung, gongs (gedé, kempur, kemong), didjeridu in C-sharp

University of Oregon 2011 Pacific Rim Gamelan:
Tom Peters, S. Jonathan Dinsfriend, Kyle Linneman, Damien Bradley, Wesley Price, Forest Marchini, Nicole Portley, Marty Kovach, Noah Jenkins, Brandon Rumsey, Alyssa Aska, James Bean, Hau-Wei Chang, Seth Stewart, Diana Rosenblum, Thomas Walker, Charlie Gurke, Jamal Robert, Ethan Gans-Morse, Sarah Viens, Nobuyuki Tomiuga