Spaces (2019)
for solo vibraphone
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PROGRAM NOTE
Spaces, for solo vibraphone, is one of a trio of pieces commissioned in 2019 by the Altered Sound Duo (Nick Fox and Chris Murphy) with additional support provided by Petrified Forest National Park, the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, and Copland House, Inc. The solo is in two parts, each spanning a little more than 10 minutes. Part One and Part Two may be be performed individually, or consecutively without pause. As each Part unfolds, a collection of three pitches gradually increases by one, two, and then three additional pitches until it becomes a group of six. The original pitches eventually disappear, one by one, until only the "new" trichord remains. Surface rhythm and background form are produced by the articulation of a three-strand polyrhythm of 9:10:11. The texture consists primarily of single pitches, but two-note simultanaeities occur at points where two of the three rhythmic strands intersect rhythmically. Coincidences of all three rhythmic strands occur at the beginning of each Part, and again 990 beats later at each Part's conclusion; they are marked by silence. Part Two is a mirror of Part One.