LACONIC
VARIATIONS (1997) |
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Commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and friends of Donal K. Higgins, this is a set of ten variations on the theme for the final variations of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and the Eroica Variations. The work also mimics the scoring of the Eroica. I have compressed and spliced the bass line and the dance-like melody of the original theme in a polytonal and discombobulated manner. It is like a collage that is torn and compressed, though everything that happens should be pretty clear to the listener. There is a chain-link effect from one variation to the next; each variation opens up harmonically or motivically to the following one. Most of the variations feature a solo or soli pairing. The title is a pun on LACO, the piece’s commissioner. |
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