swirl

swirl is a transcription of the last movement of my piano trio POÉTIQUE DES FLUIDES. It was specifically written for the 2006 International Blitz —Competition for Composers in Moscow under the title Boiling Point. As the competition coincided with the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, all submissions had to be 250 seconds long.

Shaped by that constraint, the piece hurtles forward almost without pause, driven by a continuously contracting metric scheme: 12/8, 11/8, 10/8 … down to 3/8 and 2/8.

Following the U.S. premiere at Carnegie Hall (see attached recording), I revised the ending, replacing the original abrupt, quasi-tonal close with a more dissolving conclusion. This change aligns more closely with the title of the piece and the character of the trio’s final movement: A perdifiato — breathless.

Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, M. Rachlevsky, cond.

Instrumentation

String Orchestra (vn1, vn2, vn3, va, vc1, vc2, cb)

Duration

4'

Date

2006

PRIZE

Grand Prize in the 2006 International Blitz–Competition for Composers (Homage to Mozart 250) in Moscow, Russia

Sheet music

Available upon request

First performance

Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Misha Rachlevsky, conductor. Kremlin Armory, Moscow, Russia, March 17 2006

Performed by

Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Misha Rachlevsky, conductor. Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall, NY, NY, USA, November 2006