Instrumentation: clarinet, violin, cello, piano
First Performance: Premiered by Wayne Lee, Danny Goldman, Peter Anderegg, and Vassilis Varvaresos (conducted by the composer) on 30 March, 2007, Paul Hall at the Juilliard School, NYC
Commissioned by and dedicated to Wayne Lee.
Duration: 17 minutes
I consider the musical language of this and many of my pieces to be fluid rather than solid, transparent instead of opaque, round as opposed to straight-edged. The fluidity of musical movement and textures is like the volatile nature of water in motion; the resonance of a single chord or note like the trajectory of a ripple, magnified and enhanced by a rich timbre or a certain shade of light. On a more molecular level, the vibrations of notes/sounds and their overtones correspond to wave-like phenomena. The related sonic and visual metaphors of this basic, almost naive idea have always appealed to me. Thus, the water imagery that runs through this work, and the recurring materials and gestures that return in different guises, all part of the same source, like the interconnectedness of bodies of water, from ripples to currents to waves. Written with Bach's B minor Partita in mind (the opening section traces a line derived from a rhythmic/harmonic deconstruction of the Sarabande Double and treats it like a cantus firmus), the work's material gradually moves away from the source, but offers many lyrical departures.
Anthony Cheung
March 2007