Affinity
(2006)
for large orchestra
duration: 6'
Score (PDF) 665 KB |
Audio (MP3) 6.5 MB |
| UNT Symphony Orchestra April 2006 |
Program Notes
Affinity is a string of variations and my second piece for orchestra. It combines traditional techniques of variation with newer, more modern ones and explores the timbral affinity or “natural attraction” between sections of the orchestra. Some variations make use of like timbres, as in the sameness of string sounds, while others display the potent contrasts created by an unusual timbral mix. Combining a four-note sonority (E – G# – B – C) with melodic ideas derived from it, I created a string of variations which travel out and back to the tonal center of “E.”
Affinity, like Design, was inspired by the music of Jacob Druckman. Written for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 1990, Druckman’s Nor Spell, Nor Charm contains the kind of subtle, elegant orchestration which makes each moment delicate and unique unto itself, as if each phrase contained the logic of an entire piece. To learn more traditional characteristics of theme and variations, I also studied Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations for solo piano.
Following these two pieces, Affinity is cast approximately in the traditional theme-and-variations form. Whether variations of size, shape, or texture, each section combines “horizontal” melodic music with “vertical” harmonic music as the variations approach their conclusion. Near the end, melodic and harmonic ideas converge, competing to occupy the musical foreground until they resolve into the final interwoven layers of musical “affinities.”