4 thoughts on “IV. Lento, again”

1. Wow. I like where this is headed. Muscular stuff. Very un-Lylesian.

2. I would agree that it’s not Lylesian. Not a modulating triadic twiddle in sight. ;D

   Very capitvating in that old world symphonic way. Do I detect a faint rush of the Muldau? Lovely. Continue to follow those thundering tympani wherever they might lead…

   Lyles not muscular? Clearly he never saw The Firebird, what?

3. This is essentially the version 2 version. I sat down to work last night, and as I listened to it, I applied my usual Gestalt strategy: what was I not hearing? Panic-stricken motifs, anyone?

   As I continue to post works-in-progress, you’ll hear this happen again and again: passages that are not bad, but suddenly they sprout countermelodies or descants or ostinatos, and it all begins to sound like something.

   There’s a little pizzicato measure about halfway through in the basses/celli. That has changed several times. It is actually the opening motif from the agitato theme; in its original incarnation, it seemed to be a quotation of the Dies Irae, which was a bit too startling for me. I changed the pitch/mode.

4. As for its being Lylesian, here’s what you’re looking for:

   • sudden shifts down a major 3rd
   • octave drops
   • muddying of the meter, so you’re not really sure where the downbeat is, at least in the last year or so; this piece is so far in straight 4/4 time!
   • as Marc suggests, lots of triadic solidity, although I’m getting more bold in 7ths, 9ths, 13ths, whatever.

   Things you might start hearing:

   • polytonality
   • less straightforward melodic patterns

   Things you will never not hear:

   • rather rigorous formal structure: look to hear all the bits and pieces in this intro expand and transmogrify into all the other bits and pieces you hear in this movement
   • use of melody and rhythm to be as traditionally seductive as I can deliberately make them