Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight

Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight arranged for Solo Piccolo by Dani Howard (2017).

Commissioned by the City Music Foundation for Tabea Debus.

Programme Notes

This work is inspired by the Doomsday clock, which represents the likelihood of a ‘human-caused global catastrophe’. The physical clock situated in Chicago, in 2017 has just been set to ‘Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight’ - the closest it has been to midnight since 1953. The idea was originally conceived after listening to Telemann’s Fantasia no. 1, which very continuously moves forward with a huge sense of movement and forward motion, with multiple layers in the register and small repeating patterns always leading you back to the same note.

Duration: 2 minutes 30 seconds