Piece for Flute, Violin, Clarinet, Cello and Piano (2014)
Approximate duration: 12’40”
MIDI recording. This piece has yet to be performed.
PROGRAM NOTES:
Piece for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano is a result of my effort to combine different sections and themes into a more coherent whole, rather than separating them into separate movements, or sonic events. I continue to explore the juxtaposition of tonality / atonality, rhythmic predictability vs. randomness. The piece starts with a melody performed by all instruments as a tone cluster. This leads into a tonal sounding section of an interesting time meter 4/4 + 9/8. The cello and left hand of the piano play an interesting counter rhythm which gives the illusion of the tempo slowing down at the end of the chord changes. This section also explores the wave effect of overlapping crescendo and diminuendo in the various instruments, causing certain pitches to stand out in the chord at different moments during the chord progression. This section is followed by a fun, annoying sequence, with each instrument, except piano, performing an event that repeats following a strict time frame. The next section begins the fast and furious part of the piece with the piano banging out a diminished chord pattern, and the instruments creating some sonic chaos. This interchange goes back and forth a few times, transposing up a minor 3rd each time. The transition into the next section is my favorite moment of the piece, how the old ideas carry over into the new section while new ideas are presented. The piano and strings begin exchanging a theme, while the winds play a virtuosic solo, in rhythmic unison, at a major second apart. These solos are broken up with short bursts of previous sections, before a sudden switch to a slower tempo, which features the cello and piano counterpoint from the 2nd section of the piece, but now played in different instruments. This leads to a short interlude of a whole tone melody before going into the final section, a prayer like section on a minor 7th chord.