Variations on the Housatonic (2007)
Christopher Swist
PUBLISHER: Edition Svitzer
RECORDINGS: None
RANGE: 5.0 octaves
DURATION: 14:00
MOVEMENTS: Single movement
TYPE OF ACCOMPANIMENT: Fixed
MUSICAL OVERVIEW: A theme and seven variations, with the theme occurring at the end of the work. The marimba is solo for the first variation. The first tape cue is triggered and takes place during variations 2-4. Marimba is solo for variations 5 and 6. The tape performs the seventh variation alone before the marimba performs the theme. The first tape cue serves as a soundscape for the marimba, and the marimba should be heard over the tape. Each variation has a texture and feel, which clearly defines one variation from the next.
ACCOMPANIMENT OVERVIEW: The tape contains sampled sounds that have been heavily processed. The sounds utilized are recorded nature sounds. The processing of the sounds makes them largely indistinguishable as nature sounds. The tape is in two parts to be triggered at different moments in the work. Because the tape must be triggered during the performance, the player must have another person to play back the sounds or may utilize a controller device (such as a foot pedal) to trigger the sound.
TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW: SI, SIA, DV, and DL. The theme and first variation require six-mallet technique. The six-mallet writing requires independent movement of the mallets in the hand and the ability to change intervals easily though in small degrees. The four-mallet writing is conventional and involves mostly hand-to-hand writing. There are no large leaps and the hands remain at close to moderate distances from each other.
COMPOSER'S NOTE: The following text by Christopher Swist was taken from the score:
Having spent 10 years now living in New England it is only natural that at some point I would construct a "New England" piece. With references to the Housatonic River, Charles Ives and recorded samples from Connecticut, this variation set embodies much that is regional. The theme of this set is a partial quotation of the texture in the piano accompaniment to the Charles Ives song "The Housatonic at Stockbridge." In more deference to Ives, the seven variations are heard first with the theme being reserved for the end of the piece. This was a common technique in the music of Ives called cumulative form.