Program Note

In October of 1994, I met Heinz Holliger and heard him perform music by Carter, Donatoni, and himself. This composition was inspired by Mr. Holliger, and to a certain degree, by the music he performed on that occasion.

These nine short fragments alternate between five pulsed and four non-pulsed movements. Over the course of the work, the longer, pulsed movements become faster, louder, more agitated, while the brief, non-pulsed interludes are progressively quieter and shorter. Each fragment makes use of a twelve note row in varying ways - usually as melodic material or focal pitches; however, quite a bit of the music is freely composed around the row. The row forms and transpositions, as well as many of the textures, follow a palindromic structure pivoting on the central fragment.

The fragments should be performed with short pauses (approximately five seconds) in between.

The version for recorder was composed for Eva Legene.