Output details

Pentimenti

This piece represents an endeavor to develop an idiosyncratic approach to writing for the medium of piano duo, characterised by textural density and virtuosity. The practice of abstracting and translating principles drawn from visual sources is pursued further here, as this piece adopts the principle of pentimento (the act of altering the composition of a painting in the course of its production). Specific inspiration for this piece came from paintings by Edgar Degas in whose working method pentimento was a characteristic trait. An example of this is /The Dancing Lesson/, c. 1888 . The spontaneous quality created by this technique, in particular the act of adjusting the orientation or structure of an object 'on-the-fly' is one that I sought to embrace at a musical-technical level (eg. to inform structure). I have employed the plural form of the word, /pentimenti/, because the principle is expressed in numerous ways in this piece. Imitation between the two parts at various points throughout the work (eg. bars 2, 5, 27 and 40) conveys a sense of displacement and repositioning of thematic objects and exemplifies my interpretation of pentimento in one sense. This in turn gives rise to textural density and complex, antagonistic rhythmic interaction between the parts. The principle of pentimento is expressed in thematic ways as well as the piece is conceived as a network of contrasting gestural elements (eg. the initial tremolo idea, the 'tumbling' phrases entering from bar 32, and the mercurial 'bubbling' activity in piano 2 from bar 67) with harmonic unity supplied through recurring use of hexachords rich in chromatic interval content.