Program note
STRETCH is an essay in the elongation of time, built on a lattice of strict canons. A mensuration canon between the first and second violins — the latter three times slower — determines the length and frame of the piece. Within it, the lower strings and upper winds unfold scalar melodies built one note at a time (additive technique), in inversion, answered by the horns at half speed.
A second melody enters and is treated the same way, while earlier material gradually retracts. After the climax, the original scales return harmonized and inverted, their directions now reversed and each statement stretching further in time.
A litany in the oboes appears then dissolves into elegiac melodies in flute, violin and trumpet, held together by a bell-like clarinet and the steady walk of the harp. Chimes and tam-tams mark the structural seams throughout.
STRETCH was written in 1996, following a return to composition after several years concentrated on singing. It came on the heels of Motetus in Laude Sancti Martini and was at the time the most ambitious piece in my catalog — full orchestra with winds by threes, and the longest work I had yet written. With no commission and no deadline, it became something of a homecoming: a chance to push every technique I cared about as far as it would go. The premiere came five years later, at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where I had just joined the faculty as professor of composition.
Lawrence Philharmonic Orchestra – Bridget-Michaele Reischl, conductor
Details
Instrumentation
Orchestra
Duration
16'
Date
1996
Sheet music
Available upon request
Recording
Lawrence Philharmonic Orchestra
Bridget-Michaele Reischl, conductor
First performance
Lawrence Philharmonic Orchestra
Appleton, WI, May 2001