Movements:
I. Time Canons
II. Cascades
III. Whistler's Echo
IV. Scherzo on One Note
V. Introduction, Reprise, and Perpetuum
Program Notes:
Time Fragments was commissioned by Ruth Eliel in celebration of Bill Cooney's 75th birthday. The first movement, Time Canons, explores canonic procedures in which the piano imitates the disjunct violin line, at one point moving into a prolation canon where the canon proceeds at three different speeds simultaneously. The second movement, Cascades, contains rapidly falling scalar figures over which the violin's long line soars. The third movement, Whistler's Echo, begins in the violin's extreme high register, imitating a whistle tone. The fourth movement, Scherzo on One Note (the one note being the "E" in Cooney's name), is playful, with the pianist using inside the piano-muted sounds. The last movement recapitulates some of the opening material then moves into a fast-paced, frenetic chase to the end.
Knowing Cooney's love of music and support for musical organizations such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, I wanted to write a piece which would explore the full palette of timbral resources on the violin and piano. Each of the five movement is tonally based on the letters of Bill Cooney's last name:
I.
C=Si=the note B in musical terms (tonal center is B)
II.
OO=ut=the old designation for do=the note C in musical terms (tonal center is C)
III.
N=the symmetrical center of the alphabet = the note F becomes the symmetrical center between octave B (tonality of the outer movements) (tonal center is F)
IV.
E=the note E (tonal center is E)
V.
Y="ee" sounds similar to Si from the opening movement (tonal center is B again)
-- Pierre Jalbert