performed by Milaena Martinez and Aidan Gold
Cataracts in Shattered Glass is a set of 8 short pieces for Solo Piano.
Imagine a glass- it is homogenous and thought of as one object but is very sharp and clear in its boundaries with other objects. Then, when the glass is first shattered, it becomes fragmentary and disjunct. However, when the pieces are shattered again over and over and over, eventually it becomes a pile of dust, which is once again homogenous and thought of as one object, but is much more blurred with its surroundings. This piece is simultaneously a disintegration from sharp clarity to blurred ambiguity and a coalescence. On top of all this, the molecular structure (or the melodic content) remains the same throughout. One overarching sequence of eight notes reoccurs, melded into the scale of each movement, and each note of this sequence serves as the central pitch of each movement: C Ab G C# E Eb F# B.
The melodic content of each movement remains fixed to a certain scale. These scales decrease in variance of the intervals they contain throughout the piece- from maximal variance (a minor 2nd and a major 7th), to minimal (all intervals are the same).
Score (pdf):
For additional information, questions, or parts requests, contact Aidan.