Ockeghem Variations

Judith Shatin’s Ockeghem Variations was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Dutch Hexagon Ensemble, who premiered it at the Concertgebouw on 20 March 2000. The piece was inspired by the 15th-century Flemish composer whose music contains such an intriguing blend of elastic motion and intricate detail. Similar to Josquin in his Nymphes des bois, Shatin has chosen to symbolically represent Ockeghem’s name in the actual music: letters becomes numbers, which are then translated into seven pitches. Gradually, Shatin adds back the “missing” pitches of the 12-note diatonic collection to create a full pitch spectrum. There are also allusions to Ockeghem’s Missa Prolationum, although the treatment of rhythm and textural dispersion is more extreme. Rather than a traditional set of variations, the five movements should be heard as a meditation on and personal response to Ockeghem’s music. Shatin provides the following qualitative designations for the five movements: (1) Lustrous; (2) Ringing; (3) Electric; (4) Floating ; and (5) Resounding.

(c) Jason Stell and Judith Shatin