Circular Variationson"F. J. E."
for solo piano[4:15]SUBJECT
This work has three themes, each derived from its corresponding part of the name
below. Each theme's pitch classes were specified by mapping its name characters
to an alphabet loop around the F-major scale, leaving accidentals to be introduced
via the music-generative process. Their octave registrations and initial durations
were then intuitively set.
F A I T H J O Y E L L I O T Tf a bf f a c a d e e e bf a f fCOMPOSITION
As in my Variations on a Name, the themes are varied by incremental axial rotation
of their (X=time/Y=pitch) coordinates. The earlier work treated its multipart name
as a single unit, with ensuing complications as the subnames intermingled.
The present work instead rotates its name parts separately, throwing into relief the
underlying generative process.
The rotation is anticlockwise in 24 15-degree increments as below, yielding per
movement 25 measures of music.
| 0| 15| 30| Each movement evolves its theme towards
| 45| 60| 75| and from retro-inversion at 180 degrees.
| 90|105|120| (Forms R and I never occur independently).
|135|150|165|
|180|195|210| Movements IV and V are borrowings from
|225|240|255| this work's antededent: its improvised bass
|270|285|300| alone; then its initial bar, setting that bass
|315|330|345| against the 3 name-themes in sequence.
PERFORMANCE
Articulation:
Default - detache, applying to all notes except the first of a slur. These need not be
exaggeratedly short, but must be heard as ending before the next note begins.
Slurs - These are specifically to connect, not all notes within them, but just two: start
and end. Only the former is to be elongated, with all intervening members matching
default. The purpose is to track rotational separation of the originally slurred pair.
Accents - There are two types, each tracking its theme's original stresses. The axial
rotation necessitates these, as they serve to clarify somewhat its inevitable jumbling
of inner thematic positions.
Timing:
Rhythm - Unmetered, with notes (their beginnings) timed entirely by proportional
intervening space. Performance should attend to the bar-by-bar expansion or
contraction of corresponding spaces.
Tempo - Indications ("[#] ticks at [#]") set average bar-duration with numbers that a
metronome provides. No within-bar metrical division is implied.
Other:
Accidentals - Each applies once only (per LilyPond 's style "forget").
Audio - The file accompanying this score was created via the composer's edits in
RoseGarden, then realized c/o Pianoteq 's "D4 Vintage" instrument.