for piano and soundfileswith optional video (2003)
These
three movements explore the idea of past and future related by
memory and imagination. When I wrote this piece I hadn't been
to any of the three cities, so for me they only existed in my
future. However, adding dates to the names meant that I could
never visit those specific places, as they were all in the past,
and therefore only existed in my mind. The result was that, for
me, both the past and future cities were joined by existing only
in my imagination.
The
optional video component of this piece was added in 2003, at
the suggestion of pianist Marguerite Witvoet. The first movement
uses slide images of the Ginza district, taken by my father-in-law
in February of 1970. For the second movement I purchased twenty
antique Italian postcards dating from around 1900, and for the
last movement I used postcards, advertisements, stamps, and aerial
shots of New York, all from 1953.
The first movement Tokyo 1969 carries the
performance instruction "Ginza-gone-Reno glitz", as
if the neon of the famous Tokyo district has been "tackified"
even more. Two gestures are presented, one vertical and one linear,
and they gradually expand, juxtapose and then merge in layers
of rhythms and punctuations. The harmonies and accent patterns
are meant to reflect the tackiness of the scene.
Roma 1908 is based
on a phrase from a cadenza in the aria Una Furtiva Lagrima,
from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Two excerpts from the
aria are heard, taken from the 1906 recording by Enrico Caruso.
The actual cadenza is only heard in the middle of the piece,
performed in transposed versions by the piano and soundfiles.
The additional machine-like recordings supported by the
performance instruction "Wistfully pastoral, with neo-Euro-industrial
overtones" act as a foil to the implied aria. Unheard
by the audience are Satie-esque performance commentaries written
in the score for the performer's enjoyment.
The final movement is New York 1953, with the performance
admonition "Real gone hep cats 2 a.m. Greenwich Village,
yeah, man, go-go-go"! The movement is almost an investigation
of wrong notes, as the opening repeated pattern gradually breaks
down, jumps off in different directions, bounces against the
soundfiles, distorts, disappears, and then finally returns for
a triumphant conclusion. This movement is quite demanding of
the pianist, since the playback is unforgiving.
