two violas
6 minutes
commissioned by the Harvard Group for New Music
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Written for and premiered by Elizabeth Weisser & John Pickford Richards on February 7, 2015. The piece is in two movements.
The Harvard Group for New Music asked me to write this piece for their concert of all viola duo music. Thank you to HGNM for the opportunity! |
This piece was an experiment for me, having dipped my toes in microtonal writing a few times before, for momentary effect mostly, but having never jumped into the deep end. I ask the first viola to tune the middle strings—G & D—down a quarter-tone, and the second viola to tune the outer strings—C & A—also down a quarter-tone, making the possibility for a 24-note equal tempered chromatic scale very easy. I was inspired by Charles Ives's "Three Quarter-Tone Pieces," which asks for two pianos to be tuned a quarter-tone away from each other. I noticed something about Ives' approach, which was the main thing I tried to emulate, but in my own language. There are three main approaches to dealing with harmony in the new 24-note scale: 1) I treat it as two separate 12 note scales 2) I treat it as one 12 note scale that gets "invaded" or pushed up against by pitches from the other 3) a truly 24-note chromatic scale with harmonies that do not treat one of the regular 12 note scales more dominant. The piece moves back and forth between these three treatments of 24-note equal temperament.
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