Piano Trio Update

I have begun to compose my Piano Trio on Dante's Inferno since the last post, and I am pleased with it thus far. I presented the beginning/opening section in seminar class and I received positive feedback from the class. They liked the contrast in texture and sound in the section and the overall atmosphere I had created: dark and foreboding. Since it is a piece about Hell, I was glad that this mood was pervading to others.

One suggestion I received was to explore the numerological sequences in Inferno and incorporate them into the piece. I did  more research on this and discovered that the number 3 pervades the entire literary work and numbers that are divisible by 3 are important as well. I have decided to incorporate the number 3 in various ways into my composition. The opening motive outlines the 3-note cell [017], and this will serve as the structural basis for the entire work. As well, the piece will be divided into three movements: 1. Upper Hell, 2. Middle Hell, and 3. Lower Hell, with each movement musically depicting three rings of hell in the order Dante visits them in the poem (1. Limbo, Lust, Gluttony; 2. Greed, Anger, Heresy; 3. Violence, Fraud, Treachery). There is also an introduction which serves to set the atmosphere and outline the main melodic and musical motives for the piece. Heresy (the 6th ring) and Treachery (the 9th and final ring) will be the musical and dramatic climaxes of the piece, as 6 and 9 are evenly divisible by 3. I'm looking forward will to presenting the next stage of my compositional work on the piece in class this week!  

Previous Two Weeks and What's Next!

I've made a lot of progress with my composing in the last couple of weeks. I wrote a third and final piece to my set of miniatures for violin and piano. This one, entitled ...and the wind gushed..., depicts the gradual transformation of a gentle, flowing breeze to a more swirling and chaotic wind. I use a fast undulating pattern in the piano and frequent scales, trills, tremolos and other sweeping gestures in both instruments. The most striking feature of the miniature, and the one feature that the class commented on, is the abrupt ending. I have decided that this piece will be the first in the set, and the sudden ending will lead directly into the second piece ...and the wind whispered... without break. I think that this kind of ending will peak the interest of the listeners, and the loud and furious ending of the first piece will be complete a complete contrast from the quiet, eerie opening of the second piece The set will end with ...and the wind howled... (see previous blog posts for discussion on these pieces). This week, I finished the editing of all three pieces and submitted my final version.

I have begun my second project, a piano trio. This will be a programmatic work, as the subject matter will be the nine rings of Hell as described by Dante in his epic poem Inferno. My plan is to create an interconnected set of sections, each musically depicting the physical conditions of each circle and emotional states of the people who inhabit them. All of the musical material will be derived from the few motives established in my "Prologue" and the piece will reach its climax in the ninth circle "Treachery," where Satan himself resides. As well, I am planning on including a number of extended techniques for the piano, including playing on the strings, unusual strokes, playing on the wood of the piano, etc. in order to create eerie and mysterious sounds. Plus, there will be more surprises, which I won't divulge at this time... It's an exciting project and I'm looking forward to embarking on this journey!