''Asyla'', Op. 17, is an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

l composition by the British composer

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: ''The Tempest (opera), The T ...

. It was finished in 1997 and has been performed widely, especially by the British conductor

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

. It has been described as a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, the third movement being its unacknowledged

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often r ...

Composition

The title of the composition is the Latin plural form of asylum, which here means both ''sanctuary'' and ''madhouse''. It was commissioned by the John Feeney Charitable Trust and was premiered by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Simon Rattle, in Birmingham's Symphony Hall in October 1997. This piece is best known for its third movement, which features

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

-like traits. Adès himself narrated the compositional process as follows: ''Asyla'' received critical praise and won a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award in 1997 and the

Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition () is an annual prize instituted by Henry Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985. Subsequently, the Grawemeyer Awar ...

in 2000. It was eventually published by Faber Music in 2000.

Analysis

This composition has four movements and takes 22 to 25 minutes to perform. The movement list is as follows: It is scored for a very large orchestra, which, in addition to the standard instrumentation, also includes 3 pianos (a grand piano and 2 upright pianos, one tuned a quarter tone lower, doubling

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

and grand piano four-hands), six percussionists playing a large range of instruments, and woodwinds doubling

bass oboe The bass oboe or baritone oboe is a double reed instrument in the woodwind family. It is essentially twice the size of a regular (soprano) oboe so it sounds an octave lower; it has a deep, full tone somewhat akin to that of its higher-pitched cou ...

bass flute The bass flute is a member of the flute family pitched one octave below the concert flute. The tubing length is twice as long at , which requires a J-shaped head joint to bring the embouchure hole within reach of the player. Despite its name ...

and

contrabass clarinet The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitche ...

in addition to the standard auxiliaries. Percussion instruments include 5 or 6

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, 3 or 4 roto toms, 5 tuned

hand drums A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. Types The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are ...

, 2 bell plates, over 2 octaves of tuned cowbells, 4

tubular bell Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells withi ...

s, chinese cymbal, 2 hi hats, 3 tins, ocean drum (

geophone A geophone is a device that converts ground movement (velocity) into voltage, which may be recorded at a recording station. The Standard deviation, deviation of this measured voltage from the base line is called the seismic response and is analy ...

), water

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

, 2

ratchet Ratchet may refer to: Devices * Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction * Ratchet effect in sociology and economics * Ratchet, metonymic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device * Ratc ...

s, washboard, 11 tuned

s, 4

suspended cymbal Classical suspended cymbal A suspended cymbal is any single cymbal played with a stick or beater rather than struck against another cymbal. Common abbreviations used are "sus. cym.," or "sus. cymb." (with or without the period). Most drum ki ...

s of various sizes,

splash cymbal In a drum kit, splash cymbals are the smallest accent cymbals, often a smaller derivative of the more common crash cymbals. Splash cymbals and china cymbals are the main types of effects cymbals. The most common sized splash has a diameter of 10" ...

, 2

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

sandpaper upright=1.35, Sheets of sandpaper with different grit sizes (40 (coarse), 80, 150, 240, 600 (fine)) Sandpaper, also known as coated abrasive or emery paper, is a type of material that consists of sheets of paper or cloth with an abrasive substa ...

blocks, a bag of knives or forks,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

clash cymbal Clash cymbals (also called concert cymbals, orchestral cymbals, or crash cymbals) are cymbals played in matched pairs by holding one cymbal in each hand and striking the two together. To differentiate this type of cymbal from a suspended cymbal, t ...

s, 2 orchestral

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

s and a kit bass drum, and 2 octaves of

crotales Crotales (, ), sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly played by being struck ...

. The piece starts with an untitled movement with cowbells and the flat piano, which is immediately followed by the

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

s and the high-pitched sound of the strings. The general atmosphere of the movement becomes much more agitated when the rest of the orchestra joins in progressively. The second movement begins abruptly and suddenly changes to a soft melody played by the

. Then the strings take over with a style which has been classified by some critics as "

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most ...

". The sound starts to dissipate towards the end of the movement, fading out using the highest and lowest registers simultaneously. The third movement tries to resemble "the atmosphere of a massive nightclub with people dancing and taking drugs". It has a steady rhythm which has been compared to

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

's ''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...

''. The music here is much more insistent than in the previous movements and is much more vivid and lively. After reaching a climax echoed by the strings, the fourth movement becomes calmer at the beginning, and suddenly turns violent when a tutti chord initiated by the horns bursts towards the end of the piece. ''Asyla'' ends in a quiet but trembling manner.

In popular culture

The third movement is featured in season 4 episode 10 of the Amazon Prime series ''

Mozart in the Jungle ''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in March 20 ...

''.

Composition

Analysis

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading