Initial Phase: Sectional Part

The Sectional part was composed first because the themes were most directly (and completely) revealed in it. As complete presentations of all five plus Other were inherent in the design of the Sectional part, and because I had already realized that the subdivision of the pre-composed themes would lend itself to extrapolation into the more generous spaces of the Domain layer, there was no objective basis for beginning with the domain ideal. The primary questions as I worked were, firstly, whether I would be able to realize the plan satisfactorily as the actual music emerged, and, secondly, how to realize the Transition and Combination ideals.

In the TR1 to 3 section, I used a SPLITZ-like alternation of adapted quotations from the relevant source themes. But for the first 15-second section of the TR1 to 3 fade-in (the top layer), an improvisatory trill passage was used, based upon harmonic content from Theme 1. Beginning in measure 69 of the score, there is an alternation in mood between Theme 3's tremulous figuration, and Theme 1's declamatory harmonic nature. (The quiet trills that begin this transition are a significant and desirable relief from the aggressiveness of Theme 2's contradictory character.) Theme 1's material is transformed at some points by ostinatic iteration and arpeggiation. At others it is broadened by newly imposed rhythmic character. In any case, by measure 91, the world of Theme 3 has completely overcome the waning incursions by Theme 1 content into its emerging prominence¹⁰.

There are several processes or ideals at work. The timings, the rhythmic character of the alternations between brief blocks of materials are determined by application of the integer number series. While the transition begins with a consistency of textural agitation (trills, repeated note, tremolandi, brief and rapid runs), which could be thought of as related to the theme, towards which the transition is moving, the patterns of continuous alternation are also characterized by a redundancy. The repeated borrowings, say, from the running right hand passage work of Theme 1 just preceding its core subsection retrace themselves. The underlying logic is an intermittent referencing of Theme 1 — beginning in measure 69 of the score — by the retracing and fresh extension of the borrowings at each occurrence. As the alternations continue and their duration expands, the differentiation between the two sets of materials (those indebted to Theme 1 versus those suggesting the arrival of Theme 3) is sharpened. We have not arrived at the continuous, subdued whirrings of Theme 3 yet, but its textural ideals have been firmly established, it is hoped, without lessening the satisfactions of its actual arrival.

The Combination ideal first appears as COMB2/4, shown on the overall plan as a rectangle beginning at 184.5 seconds (entering just before the last subsectional boundary within the lower part of TR1 to 3). This element brings into the picture not only the recently heard chordal contradictions and rapid parallelisms of Theme 2, but also the rapid "rips" of Theme 4, which is, itself, still far off in the future. This Combination is a mosaic of brief, highly characterized and distinctive snippets from the two participating source themes. The design worked out for distributing these irregularly repeating fragments is relatively sparse at the beginning, in order to allow for the ending of TR1 to 3 to remain audible. Arriving at the moment when Theme 3 enters, I had to decide whether (as indicated in the early overall plan shown in Ex. 14) the effects of the combination would continue to be felt during the new theme. It had become obvious that this would not be ideal, so I suppressed the superimposition, allowing Theme 3 to occur without interference.

Let us return, now, to the nature of Theme 2. It comes as a rebuff of sorts to the assured directionality of Theme 1. Eleven chords of differing density and register are repeated at widely varying dynamic levels in an interlocking pattern that spans the 38-second duration of the theme. Some are unique to an individual subsection of the theme, others encompass the first three or last three subsections, some occur over a larger span, bracketing the core element. Because they each have independent temporal patterns, they sound irregular to the ear. Their widely contrasted dynamic levels, along with the irregularity of their timings, do give them the character of "contradictory assertions". Occasionally, rapid passage work connects two of the brief, repeating chords (cf. Ex. 24).

The idea of brief, repeated, highly characterized elements as the basis for a musical passage had already been established by this theme. This is, by implication, continued in the rapid alternations of the TR1 to 3. COMB2/4 heightens the contrasts between the elements of the irregular cycles of repetition (because the iterated fragments derive now from two independently vigorous thematic sources), and takes it further — develops it — by promoting unanticipated intersections between contrasting fragments (cf. mm 108-111). After Theme 3 is completed, COMB2/4 continues, its density increasing so as to give it a sense of culmination just before the first structural silence.

The first "structural silence" now occurs; it is 11 seconds long. From the perspective of the larger form, there are the following reasons for placing this "gap" here rather than elsewhere. Firstly, four of the five themes have been represented, three in their entireties. The major structural component types have been introduced (theme, transition, and combination), and with them the experiential functions of exposition, contrast, evolutionary motion, development through combination. As an aggregate, these components complete the work's first major phrase. It is time for something totally different, something which takes the boundary-crossing phenomenon broached in the sudden move from Theme 1 to 2, and the unexpected gentility and indecision of the trills at the beginning of TR1 to 3 in a more dramatic direction.

COMB2/4 ends decisively. Now Other begins. The mood is hushed (as it was after Theme 2, when TR1 to 3 commenced), but now, instead of continuing in muted contrasts, with local units of expressive or structural significance, the music simply proceeds in its explicit yet nondevelopmental mode. This new and uncharacteristic music, originally planned to be 99.5 seconds long, continues in the final composition for almost three minutes, a teasing suspension between stasis and variability. The occasional and unpredictable superimposition of long glissandi that exist within but do not perturb Other's basic texture adds enough to keep the composite profile of Other tantalizingly poised between relief from what preceded it and anticipation of what will follow (and when).

There was considerable adjustment to the overall plan in the post-Other portion of S. The COMB3/5 was judged too confusing in relation to the already complex realization of TR2 to 4. It also became clear that venturing into the potentially murky terrain required by a Combination of 3 separate themes (COMB1/2/3) already interwoven in earlier elements, was ill-advised.

At the close of Theme 4, the second, 9-second structural silence occurs. This marked the second large phrase of the piece (including, at the beginning, Other, then the long transition into Theme 4, and its virtuosic, cross-registral sweeps). Originally, I had no intention of using the materials or mood of Other anywhere except in its primary position in the plan. But the idea of simultaneous ostinati suggested a way of bridging the 70.5 seconds proposed by the overall plan between the end of Theme 4 and the beginning of Theme 5. The plan calls for the solo piano layer to fulfill the COMB1/2/3 function, so I devised a converging harmonic and temporal scheme with three overlaid speeds (regular, quintuplet and sextuplet sixteenths) and superimposed accent patterns. The recurring and converging nature of these ostinatic cycles contrast with the virtuosity of Theme 4 but also allow, after the structural silence, both a recapturing of the intensity just broken and a sense of pressing towards a new stage of the piece. The straightforward way of handling this would have been to continue the ostinatic overlays directly into the final, lyrical, linear theme (now for ensemble). But I realized that there was an opportunity to evoke the world of the final Epilog (as yet unplanned) with a brief moment of virtual stasis (Ex. 25). Although this was not consciously planned, I now see the previewing of the tranquil final Epilog as having two additional functions. Firstly it brings the calm of Other into this bridging section. (Both the mechanism of layered ostinati, and its serenity are represented.) It predicts, however, not only the final Epilog but also the nature of the Theme 5 core: chordal but with a weighted, linear emphasis.