Chariot

Chariots is an advanced-level minimalist piano solo work written for two separate pianos. As the nearly six-minute work progresses, the amount of time spent in the undulating world of staunch open tertian and perfect intervals gradually shortens while that given over to the more frenzied thematic modes lengthens. The very first section which introduced the military idea produce the first series of rapidly mixed inflections of color and textures that become borrowed and those introductory patterns and figurations that operate in continuous harmony slowly become blurred to an ever-increasing ratio.

The topography of the form and the variety of keyboard ideas — across the entire range of both pianos — suggest the rippling of wheels across a gravelly road, as the piece disjointedly surges with sometimes stabbing figurations and sometimes tranquil circular fragments, that can be as violent or forceful as a Roman chariot race. In most cases, each hand operates in an elliptical, spiraling manner, generating patterns and lines that operate in continuous harmony with the other hand.

These musical blocks are always articulated by short thematic re-statements in a jaunting, dotted eighth-sixteenth pattern, which acts as guideposts to mark smaller repetitious ostinato-like “loops” that form sublayers of contrasting and propulsive internal units that are carefully balanced to offset and counter clarity and attention to the larger forms they support and accentuate.