Reflections for Brass Quintet
Needham Series
1983, 10:40 min.
Reflections is in three movements: Moderato, Allegro, and Andante, of about equal length. It is based on an interpretation of an algorithmic score computed by way of Koenig's Project One. In this kind of composition, sound emerges from designing patterns of syntactic parameters such as pitch, loudness, tone-height, duration, etc. which are linked in time. These patterns are composed to follow one of seven degrees of order or "change" over time, resulting in continuous or discontinuous textures as they unfold. The musical form is created by how these textures, of chord size one to six, are sequenced in real time.
Functionally, the piece is a quartet (trumpet, trombone, horn, tuba). In this case, the interpretation of the musical materials is geared toward emphasizing increasing instrument mixture and registral discontinuity.
Reflections was premiered in a New England Computer Arts Association concert at Little Kresge Theatre, MIT, Cambridge, MA., in 1983.