Variazioni Semplici

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I began composing my Variazioni Semplici (Italian for “Simple Variations”) during the summer of 2008 and completed it in October of the same year.  The piece is very much influenced by the music of Arvo Pärt, although I don’t particularly like much of his music.  However, I was thinking about his philosophy of Tintinnabuli and decided to write a piece which uses a very simple theme with a very simple harmonization, but is varied in simple and subtle ways.  The goal of the work would then be a magnification of scale, where these slight variations carry larger consequences and ramifications within the scope of the work.  The effect is then like freezing a short span of time and looking at it from slightly different angles, or expanding a beautiful moment in order to enjoy it more fully but not to the point of overkill.  This was my objective in creating this work and represents a very different way of composing from all my previous works.  The work is also influenced by the song “Morgen” by Richard Strauss, which I remember studying in my theory class during my freshman year of college and having an incredible and indescribable feeling while considering the text, hearing the music, and looking out the window at the morning sun.   

Premiered July 24, 2012 by Joshua Burca-violin, and Stephanie Gustafson-harp, at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, ME.