v a r i a t i o n s   a n d   f u g u e s   

Instrumentation:             2.2.2.2/2.2/Timps.Hrp/Str         

Duration:                       11’       

Performance details:       09.05.2002, Leeds University, Leeds University Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Oliver; cond.

Recording details:           as performance

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This composition was written in response to the LUUMS composition competition and is very much composed with the standards and resources of a student orchestra in mind. It is largely in the acoustic mode and organically based around the 8-bar phrase announced by the 2^nd violins and violas at bar 76. The most important characteristics here are the melodic contour and rhythm of the first two bars and the last two bars of the phrase, and the drone of a fifth. These eight bars shall be termed the original phrase.

In the Allegro Moderato introduction, elements of the original phrase are hinted at. The strings pre-empt the dotted note and the drone, while the more liberal harp part underlines the importance of scalar movement to the piece. The horns suggest the melodic contour of the opening bars of the original phase, and the trumpets and oboes develop this motif. The violin solos are taken from bar 7 of the original phrase.

After the 2^nd violins and violas fully expose the original phrase, it is then repeated, though varied in rhythm slightly. The original phrase is in fact never repeated in the same way in the whole piece. The phrase statements are anwserd at bar 94, using a mixture of elements from bars 2 and 7 from the original phrase, while the accompaniment develops the drone. At bar 110, a variation the original phrase is stated on a different degree of the mode and again at bar 119. A kind of ‘second subject’ is introduced at bar 141, using augmented characteristics of the original phrase. The first 2 bars of the original phrase are built up canonically at bar 165 and a climax is reached at bar 181.

Here the tempo reverts to Allegro Moderato, and material form the introduction section is brought back. The violins use the horns’ and then the cellos’ material, while the oboes and brass use that of the harp. The Db in bar 203 signifies a change of mode. The pitch construction of the acoustic mode (on C) means that if one substitutes the D for a Db and Eb, the result is an octatonic mode. Similarly, if one substitutes the G and A for an Ab, the result is a whole-tone mode. This is why the composition is a set of variations on the actual acoustic mode itself, not just the original phrase. At 203 then, we move into the octatonic mode, and eth first fugue begins at bar 213, using motific elements from the original phrase. The subject line is answered and then stated again at bar 249. It is next stated at bar 289, then at bar 308, this time in the whole-tone mode. It returns to octatonisism at bar 325, and again to the whole-tone at bar 344. All ‘modulations’ between the octatonic and whole-tone modes are made through the ‘pivot’ notes of C, E, F# and Bb, notes common to all modes in the piece.

A second fugue begins at bar 365, using the original phrase as it’s subject, back in the acoustic mode. The fugue entries journey through the cycle of fifths to start on every degree of the mode to eventually return to C at bar 414. Here the fugue subject is set augmented against the original rhythmic values.

Bar 446 sees kind of recapitulation of the original phrase, and a variation of the ‘second subject’ appears at bar 466. Another canonic flourish leads to the tutti climax at bar 506, only to be followed by the rather pathetic sounds of the clarinets and harp. In turn this is answered by a unison fortissimo to end the piece.

Variations and Fugues was awarded 1^st prize in the Leeds University Composition Competition in 2002.