For me, one of the biggest challenges of composition is to mediate between intuition and logic, between limitless possibilities and rigorous constraints, between emotion and reason. This challenge was very much on my mind while writing Symmetries. The compositional process was unusual: my initial sketches for the piece were of its structural framework, and the actual motivic material only developed in the final stages.
At the heart of the
work’s structure are three indpendent textural layers. Two of the layers are
defined by pairs of pitches which are symmetrical around a center, while the
third is a four-note canon which repeats independent from the piece’s meter.
Opposing this rigorous framework are a series of freely-composed motives which
rise out of the texture; different versions of each motive are played
successively or simultaneously.
All these elements combine to create effects
of gradual change and transition. The structure is a single large arch: the
piece gathers in tension, pitch density, rhythmic intensity, motivic length,
and dynamic to reach a tremendous climax, then eventually subsides into a state
much like it began. Within smaller sections of the piece, arpeggiations
gradually modulate from one rhythm to another, harmonies alternate voicings
within an instrumental choir, and notes slowly pass from one instrumental choir
or soloist to another.
Symmetries was written for the Yale Concert Band.