Year composed: 1989
Duration: 14′
Instrumentation: percussion and piano
Commissioned by Kay Stonefelt and premiered at Indiana University, February 1990.
Notes:
[Four Studies of Light and Dark] is actually a six movement work, with the first and last movements, I and VI, forming an outer frame. The structure is organized symmetrically, with II and V illustrating light and dark respectively. II is cast in a high register and is very fast, with a running high piano and xylophone melody; V is a complement of II in its low register and likewise fast tempo with fast piano clusters and percussion drums. III is slow and dark, with a chorale like chordal melody low in the piano and swirls of tam-tams played with brushes and a bow, moving without pause into IV, which continues the chorale melody high in the piano with percussion crotales, with bowed suspended cymbals.
My intention was to write a fun and challenging piece for myself (at the piano) and my percussionist friend Kay Stonefelt. Four Studies was originally conceived as a dance piece, with “light” and “dark” symbolically portrayed by two dancers, and has been choreographed by the Larry Pech Dance Company.