Output details

Diptych

A key device explored in this work for solo piano is that of chiaroscuro applied to sound, a technique drawn from the visual arts. Aspects of register, dynamic intensity, textural density and gesture are deployed in ways to create impressions of relative light and shade, and agile melodic lines delineate a variety of energetic states. The opening of the piece exposes a recurring gesture that conveys a sense of sudden energetic attack. It unfolds as a stream of single notes produced with a violent martellato articulation by the performer (imbuing the idea with a pronounced, foreground quality). For a short period harmonic stasis prevails, but as the energy dissipates (through diminishing intensity of dynamics and rhythmic fragmentation) this sense of harmonic fixity is released.

An on-going area of inquiry in my work, especially in writing for piano, is the exploration of harmonic resonance, and this plays a key role here in the context of exploring musical chiaroscuro. Blending resonating harmonic colours is a device exploited throughout this piece in numerous contexts. In the opening bars, pitches of the martellato gesture accumulate to form an impression of background 'radiation' which in turn functions as a canvas upon which to present pointillist, fragmentary detail in the foreground (as exemplified by bars 8-14). This sort of implied motion between foreground and background gives rise to a construction of spatial dimensionality in sound. Luciano Berio's piano music, for example, /Erdenklavier/ from Six Encores for Solo Piano which features detailed fluctuating dynamic instruction as a device to generate an impression of foreground and background dimension, served as an important reference point for me in the formulation of this approach.

The research aspects of the composition are evidenced by this portfolio of material:

a) Score

b) Audio CD