Partita – Images/Fragments (1999)

Details

  • 12
  • Violin and Piano

Program Notes

Partita — Images/Fragments was composed in response to a request from David Moroz for a work that would be virtuosic and would serve well to close the first or second half of a concert. The composition emerged as work that begins with a slow, quasi-rhapsodic section; this is soon interrupted and eventually taken over by a series of powerful chords. After a short transition the tempo changes to presto and a distinctive descending motive appears. These three musical elements are eventually joined by a fourth, announced by a wide-ranging arpeggio on the piano. All of these ideas are continuously varied over the course of the piece, culminating in a revisitation of the opening slow tempo motive in the presto tempo and an ending dominated by the loud chords of the second section. The title Partita is meant in the 16th century sense of the word – a variation. The subtitle Images/Fragmentsreflects the sometimes multiply-directed and non-linear progress of these variations.

This work was commissioned by the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society with financial assistance from the Manitoba Arts Council.

World Premiere:

September 19, 1999
Muriel Richardson Auditorium, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Gwen Hoebig, violin; David Moroz, piano