Commissioned by Luisa Sello; world premiere March 20, 2014, Brick 5, Vienna, Austria.
Flone is meant to imply an arrow, piercing, to divide, a splice to split; also, it suggests, being alone, and protecting that solitude.
Formally, the piece is constructed around “tension points” initiated by tempo changes resulting in sudden, dramatic shifts in personality. The dissonant multiphonics, derived from the diminished seventh progression in the Allemande of Bach’s Partita, signify the onset of a change. The Bach quotation gradually becomes more identifiable until one third of the way through the piece, (similar to a technique I explored in E: clipse), when it then fractures itself, and echoes the opening, more ethereal in character, gradually returning in a flipped dynamic shape (crescendo from mp to f). What begins the piece as a descrescendo (a dying away of sound to “niente”), ends the piece with a tension, a crescendo with sudden interruptions, distractions and disruptions.
Duration: 7-8 minutes.
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