Palette / Riffs
Palette / Riffs (1998)
explores one aspect of how we perceive musical discourse (at least,
in the western art-music tradition). This aspect can be summed up in
two questions: "is this part of this piece related to something
I have heard before?" or "is this part of this piece not
related to anything I have heard before?" It is the combination
of these two "musics" that make the form of the piece. The
opening material - the "riffs" - returns several times in
the course of the work. These recurrences are set off by other
musical material that is not related to anything else in the piece.
The "not riffs" material is more concerned with the palette
of colors available from this particular ensemble (alto flute /
flute, clarinet / bass clarinet, percussion, violin, viola and
cello), hence the title. Contrast between the two types of music is
further heightened by registral and texture differences: the "riffs"
material is mostly confined to the middle range, and features a
unison texture. The "palette" material has more textural
variety (including some quarter-tones), and has more extremes of high
and low pitch.