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Compositions *** |
Three Pieces for Violin and Piano
year
1940
duration
9 minutes
première
April 16, 1946, New York City, International Society for Contemporary Music Forum Group, Orrea Pernel, violin and Beveridge Webster, piano
recording
Available on demo CD
movements
Moderato
Andante
Vivace
program notes
Patterned with figures that create a motor rhythm, each piece generates an energy that is shared equally by the violin and piano. Fine has an innate sense for how to direct this energy, for each piece seems to be just the right amount of time. Never does she overwrite or repeat material unnecessarily. The first piece is through-composed in the style of a baroque prelude. It begins tonally, but by measure 2 the piano adds Fine’s distinctive dotted rhythmic gestures and dissonant vertical structures. The second piece is slower and melodic, often being three-voice counterpoint due to melodies woven into the piano figuration. The last piece is a humorous gigue that at one point has the marking “misterioso” and “with exaggerated expression and rubato.”
–Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999
audio files