800 Million Heartbeats
for piano trio
(2007)
duration: 8’
GRT • 133
audio sample
score available from
Australian Music
Centre
program note
Many living
creatures lives apparently last for around 800 million
heartbeats. Birds like the hummingbird have a very rapid
wing motion - so fast that it becomes a blur. It also has a
correspondingly fast heart rate and lives a shorter (and
arguably more intense) life. By contrast, the sloth has a
very slow heart rate, is given to much sleep and has a
relatively long life. If humans had only 800 million
heartbeats in a life, we would die young (probably in our
twenties). But the actual figure is only nominal. It
becomes a heightened metaphor for a life, measured in
heartbeats, and the journeys that fill its course. This
piece was originally composed in 2000 for the Southbank
Contemporary Music Ensemble, then as a quintet for Brisbane
quintet, Topology, and this adaptation was made especially
for The Yarra Trio to premiere in 2008.
review
“Greenbaum's music regularly
appears on Yarra Trio's programs, and two of his recent
works were presented on this occasion. Both pieces are
characterised by simple tuneful ideas that slowly unfurl
against a backdrop of pulsing ostinatos. This initial
simplicity turns out to be deceptive, as juxtapositions and
developments create a multifaceted web of ingenious
thematic and structural relationships.
Greenbaum's 800
Million Heartbeats was the more straightforward piece, with
its well judged proportions and obvious build towards a
climactic theme statement at just the right moment. There
is little angst in Greenbaum's music, but this melody sung
with passionate intensity before ebbing away to a
conclusion. This produced one of the trio's best moments,
the richly expressive string playing both supported and
driven by the keyboard dynamic.
Mark Viggiani, Resonate, September
2009