The title comprises three languages (Latin, French, and English respectively) corresponding to three personalities evident in the music (represented by different solo instruments in the trios, duets in the sextet, and textures in the tape interludes), each distinct from the other in temporal sensibility, pitch and rhythmic structure, and emotive content.
This piece was dedicated to the new music performing group, Sirius, and was made possible in part by The Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Grant Program.
The personalities of the opening trio are fixated on their own idosynchrocies, and rather than transforming they exaggerate their core identity. Then, the piano interrupts, calling forth the possibility of integration and inviting the others to join. At the conclusion attempts are made to share musical thoughts and achieve a cohesion of expression.
In Interludes I and II, natural sound worlds (birds, water, and fire) engage pre-recorded man-made sounds (cello, clarinet—sounds from the instrumental trios) in a series of transformations and mutations. No particular narrative or imagery is intended, the music is deliberately abstract. It is a dramatic collage of sounds. Because each listener has a different past, different concerns, different imaginations, and because the music is abstract, each listener will interact with the music differently and come away with a different experience.
Mark Menzies, violin; Hugh Livingston, cello; Sandra Brown, piano; Electronics, Nathaniel Tull Phillips
The second trio uses the complimentary set of instruments to the first trio. Similar to Trio I, instruments exhibit fixed personalities, a temper tantrum bass clarinet, a nervous piccolo/flute, and an agitated percussion.
Pat O'Keefe, clarinet; Patti Cudd, percussion; Lisa Cella, flute
Interlude II consists of natural sound worlds (birds, water, and fire) engaging pre-recorded sounds (from recordings of acoustic instruments) in a series of transformations and mutations which take place in the realm of computer processing.
The second interlude continues into the final movement, the Sextet. The design principle of the last movement incorporates various methods and techniques from previous movements. The intent is completion, but as in the case of all ideal completions, something new opens up.
Mark Menzies, violin; Hugh Livingston, cello; Lisa Cella, flute; Pat O'Keefe, clarinet; Patti Cudd, percussion; Sandra Brown, piano; Electronics, Nathaniel Tull Phillips