Fugue, Interlude and Finale
Bruce A. Stark
About this work:
Sound bites, details and on-line score purchasing available at:
belle-kane.com
U.S. premiere: 2007 by Anthony DeMare; featured in "Keys To The Future" series in New York in 2008.
Program Notes:
Fugue, Interlude and Finale is a three-movement composition adapted from my larger Suite For Piano, commissioned by pianist Seann Alderking and premiered in Tokyo by Chika Nagisa in 2003.
In the fugue, a syncopated, jazz-inspired subject is woven into a contrapuntal tapestry. The B-A-C-H signature motif (B flat, A, C, B natural) appears along the way (a salute to the master), influencing the piece thereafter. After a strictly 4-voice exposition the texture becomes more flexible, mixing counterpoint with pianistic elements, and several fugal techniques appear in the writing such as augmentation, inversion, and stretti. At one point the harmonic tension reaches its peak as the subject's opening 4-note motive is played in dense clusters, like large drums stubbornly pounding out its contour. (the BACH motif itself is a compression of the subject's opening notes).
Interlude is an offering of meditative repose. It is introspective, touched with longing, and improvisational in character. An underlying element of subtle harmonic tension interacts with passages of beauty and resonance, imparting a sense of uncertainty. Though not a conscious intention, I have been told that this movement possesses a Japanese sensibility, no doubt resulting from my many years living in Tokyo.
Finale is a virtuosic piece in which elements from the previous movements combine in a fast, syncopated culmination. Its primary theme, aggressive and bluesy, derives from the fugue's subject, while its secondary theme, dancing along with child-like innocence, offsets this aggressive music with lyric optimism.
Year composed: 2003
Duration: 00:12:00
Ensemble type: Keyboard:Piano
Instrumentation: 1 Piano