Variations
(2022)

Composer's notes:

This piece explores a parallel between pre-Romantic Western classical music and Indian classical music. I have chosen to write a theme and variations which self-consciously reflects the structures of 17th and 18th Century works in this form. I try to create tension and excitement, not through movement towards a formal goal, rather through fluctuating levels of complexity, grounded in the same place. This seemed to me to be comparable to techniques used in some Indian classical music. The theme and its subsequent variations are structured, in terms of phrase lengths and shapes, in accordance with a theme and variations from a Mozart violin sonata. This 36-bar repeating form is placed in counterpoint with a 20-bar rhythmic cycle, based on the Rupak Taal, a seven-beat tala, in such a way that the two cycles meet at the end of each variation. The effect is one of eternity and inevitablility. Within the repeating, containing shapes of this work is room for varying levels of complexity, moments of still and moments of wit. This work was commissioned by and is dedicated to Meera Priyanka Raja.

Duration: 10'

Instrumentation: Cello Solo

First Performance: Meera Priyanka Raja, 2022.