Monolith by Francisco Perez

The TCU Percussion Orchestra, conducted by Brian A. West, performs "Monolith" by Francisco Perez live at TCU on 10-24-21. Posted with permission.

Monolith (2019) – Francisco Perez
For several years now, the creative genius of Stanley Kubrick’s films have been a tremendous inspiration for me as an artist. While the visual poetry and dramatic storytelling of his entire oeuvre captivate the mind, one particular Kubrick work has fascinated me the most – 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the fifty years after its 1968 release, the film’s main narrative (an allegory on the nature of mankind) has spawned countless theories and analyses around the world, all with varying interpretations of the mysterious black monolith which plays a transcendental role across each of 2001‘s four acts.
In Monolith, I have loosely adapted this same role in a motivic sense against a myriad of other thematic, formal, and musical references to 2001. Beginning with a foreboding introduction, a simple ascending motif slowly propels the work through four main sections, guiding the musical textures to higher ‘aural’ dimensions.
Monolith was commissioned by Francis Burke and the Lake Dallas High School Percussion Ensemble (Corinth, TX).
-notes by the composer