Three Optical Allusions
for solo piano
(1995/2001)
duration: 6’
GRT • 078
CD available with score
Firestarters
I
Emma Sayers, piano
Promethean Editions
audio sample
3: Möbius Strip
score
available from
Promethean Editions
program note
These pieces
present rhythmic puzzles which 'allude' to corresponding
visual 'illusions'. Solar Eclipse explores the ratio 3:4. The syncopation
within this ratio seems to generate a vortex of rhythmic
gravity within a harmonic structure that moves toward and
then away from a perfect eclipse of the sun.
In Time–lapse
Photograph, a
simple rising motive in the left hand repeats over and over
– each time a little longer. Independently, the right hand
develops a more syncopated, 'blurred' melodic line. Once
the photograph is 'coloured in' it fades away (in similar
fashion to Solar
Eclipse).
A Möbius Strip (as drawn by M.C. Escher) is a length of
paper looped and joined at the ends but with one end turned
around 180 degrees. This creates an object with only one
plane, since the front merges into the back and vice versa.
This musical 'allusion' is based around the opening 5–note
cell, which loops seamlessly upon itself, expanding and
contracting like a möbius strip. Toward the end it
modulates pivotally through the flat cycle of keys,
launching upwards into infinity.
review
“Australian
Stuart Greenbaum achieves the right balance of simplicity
and complexity in Time Lapse
Photograph,
pitching a minimalist left hand part against irregular
rhythms in the right.”
Catherine Martin, Ritmico (NZ), March
2006