 |
|
TREMORS and QUAKES (1998) a toccata for piano oliva porphyria, a shell first performance: December 11, 1998 in Breda
Program Notes The toccata form was the starting point for “Tremors and Quakes”. The pianist who commissioned me to write it had invited a number of composers to use the Renaissance and Baroque toccata forms as a reference for writing a solo piano piece for a series of recitals combining these contemporary toccatas with Bach toccatas. I made a list of personal images suggested to me by the meaning of the word toccata /toccare, to touch, to strike. One reference was the basic on/off attack of the harpsichord key stroke, with its quickly decaying sound. Another image was the descriptions of computer models simulating the processes used by shells to create pigmentation patterns. The activity of pigment cells in certain sea shells turning on and off to form symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns was a visualisation for me of the harpsichord key stroke. This tied in with my form idea for the material of the piece. The shell species, oliva porphyria, particularly fascinated me with its branching “v” forms.
A musical source was, naturally, the Bach toccatas. The improvisatory style with short sections often separated by adagio passages, the fuga, the harpsichord-like tremolo effects, the motoric demands on the player's virtuosity were elements I wanted to incorporate in the piece. The glissando tool attempts to give more flexibility and ease to playing glissandi on the piano, and to be able to use glissandi more melodically. The dynamics in the coda suggest a kind of wave from high to low, or again, the V form converging on the center e f of the first octave of the keyboard .
This piece was supported by the Dutch composition fund / het fonds voor de scheppende toonkunst
<<<
|
|
