Irreconcilable Parallels  - 2000

for Bassoon and Marimba and Wood Blocks

 

I Introductions

 

II The Short Ride to Midnight

 

III Ever After

 

 

Duration: 11

 

October 2000

 

Accidentals affect only the specific octave for which they appear and are good for the entire measure in the metered sections. Accidentals in the unbarred and dashed barred sections of the second movement affect only the specific note that they are attached to.

 

All trills and mordents are by half step unless otherwise marked.

 

Irreconcilable Parallels for Bassoon and Marimba was composed in September of 2000 at the request of bassoonist Patricia Dusold. The work is a musical attempt to combine the two contrasting timbres and instrumental idioms of the ensemble. Cast in three movements, the piece catalogs this attempt. The first movement, Introductions, presents the instruments to one another as they tell what they can do, each attempting what the other has done. The bassoon is the more reluctant of the two instruments to imitate and therefore usually leads the conversation. During the second movement, the short ride to midnight, the marimba player introduces an new and dissonant timbral element to the music, that of the wood blocks. During the course of this movement the instruments share material much more freely and eventually find unity. However, the grounds for this unity are circumspect as the instruments are restricted to a singular role and the union is torn apart. For the third movement, ever after, the instruments settle on an agreement of material and work together for a common end.