Duration: 7’00”

Ensemble: Violin, Cello, Piano

Premiere: March 24, 2024, Logan, UT

Written For: Kimberly Lewin Cello Performance Capstone

Program Note:

More than just an exercise in transporting the 18th century genre relic into a modern context, this piece approaches the Fugue with a new philosophy entirely. What traditionally was written for a handful of distinct and clearly identifiable “voices” (whether explicitly sung or perhaps condensed for a keyboard) is now something much more amorphous. Throughout the piece, pairings of melodic lines will join together as one singular harmonic force, interacting with other forces in a dance of polytonality before splintering into new groupings and new harmonic systems. The subject (first introduced by the piano) is heard countless times in this manner, often covertly, and is treated to the usual fugal manipulations: it is stretched, flipped, rotated, layered, and contorted beyond all recognition. Following a thematic eruption, an introspective recapitulation of the original melody closes the piece.