U Bahn c.1985 : the Rosenberg Variations [electronic music score]
Lindsay Vickery
Scopus ID : 55322122300
Description
U Bahn c.1985: the Rosenberg Variations is a music composition for small ensemble and electronics. It is based on the layout of the Berlin UBahn during the cold war years, and is roughly based on an anecdote from Rose about difficulties encountered in taking an instrument across the border from east to west.
The score indeterminately presents performers with musical material laid out on staves that follow the routes of the UBahn lines. Once they have changed to the Alexanderplatz line, they remain trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Once all players have joined the East German line, A “graffiti wall” of graphical notation is presented which in turn gives way to fragments of the East German anthem before a final, unobscured rendition of the Anthem is played in full by the performers.