Bloques avec Forme III
This piece is a composite of several distinct influences. First and foremost, the music of Stravinsky's early period and particularly his ‘block form’ technique. Another important influence is from a different realm entirely: YouTube royalty free stock music. The ornamented ‘folky’ modal melodies in this piece are all derived from the stock music piece ‘Spring in My Step’ by Silent Partner, an incredibly pervasive sound in the YouTube scene. The harmony, frequently bitonal, often employs clusters, tonal and chromatic, only widening out at the very end to a resonant and comparatively stable sounding chord.
The reappropriation of banal forms of popular music has a long history in classical music and is sometimes related to an extra musical event like in Berg’s Lulu Suite, or to call to mind a specific association. In this case, this jaunty material provides a foil to the more aggressive and unfriendly sounds in the piece. This aims for a dissolution of boundaries and recontextualisation of a familiar tune in a bizarre and unnerving setting. The title references Stravinsky as well as playing with tropes of naming in contemporary music.