Working Title (the)
The underlying idea in working title is an exercise of imagination rather than a real question: what would it be like, the ultimate piece of music? that demands us to assume such piece as possible in the first place, and then examine oneself’s preferences, taste and opinion on what art is/should be able of.
This question claims to seek for a general answer, yet can only be answered personally. Most answers will be inevitably based on past experience. Most people would fail to define what others might like best. We all believe our choices to be more common than they really are. It is human, and that is why this piece is ultimately about bias and misconceptions around the idea of beauty, art and entertainment.
Expectation as main variable
The idea is to consciously manipulate non-musical elements in order to induce different aesthetic experiences. Doing that we try to control the audience’s expectation as main variable for the later (mis)interpretation and/or (un)satisfaction. With that purpose, we might want to print different program notes randomly spread through the audience, in which all meta-musical information is misleading. We can later check the results out by asking the people, therefore turning the experiment into a collective reflexion.
Structure and implementation
The piece is structured in five miniatures which can be played in any order, together as a suite or in between other pieces in a program. Each of them has a different character. All non-musical aspects of the piece (as to how to present it, order, stage setting…) need to be taken care of depending on the context. Specifically: Title, subtitles, program notes, alleged background of the piece and composer will be made up for the occasion. How far we can go is just a matter of daring. Be controversial and provocative, if you choose to.