Benjamin Gait

Written for Brake Drum Percussion. Premiere 5th October 2009 (Padua, Italy)

Duration: c. 8 minutes.

Percussion Duo.
Player 1: Crotales (E and G#), marimba, three cymbals, 2 tom-toms, tam-tam
Player 2: Crotales (F#, A# and D), vibraphone, three cymbals, 2 tom-toms, tam-tam
Can also be performed with a third percussionist, positioned in the middle and playing Crotales only. 

Medicean Stars was the name ascribed by Galileo to what later turned out to be the four larger moons orbiting Jupiter, documented in Sidereus Nuncius four hundred years ago. Upon discovering these moons, Galileo named them after the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II de’ Medici; however they are now commonly referred to as the Galilean moons. Several of Galileo’s sketches of Jupiter and its four moons from this treatise were plotted onto manuscript paper, in order to devise a clear structure that contrasts three tuned instruments (marimba, vibraphone and crotales) with the many sounds of cymbals, tom-toms and tam-tams.