<< back to compositions
Program
note for the Chasing Goldberg
Chasing Goldberg (2004) was written for the pianist Gilbert Kalish in response to an unusual commission. The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival asked a number of American composers to write a variation based on the famous “Aria” of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Chasing Goldberg was my contribution. Kalish premiered the new set of variations in February 2004 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the Gilmore Festival resides.
Much of my music employs variation techniques, and a few works employ canonic and moto perpetuo textures. Chasing Goldberg combines these traits. Two initial compositional constraints were that each measure use only pitch classes appearing in the equivalent measure in the Aria of the Goldberg Variations and that the Goldberg ground bass project clearly. These limitations give my piece a functional-diatonic dimension that is unique in my output. Within the constraints, common-practice harmonic syntax and dissonance treatment are not observed. Pitches are displaced to create multiple lines, as in Bach's solo string music. Careful attention is paid to rhythmic patterns and syncopations as well as linear connections. Instead of binary repeats, as in the Bach, each repeat is a canon. This idea came from the canons in every third variation of the Goldberg Variations. My canons are at the unison a quarter note apart. The technical feat is threefold: (1) the original, unaccompanied line must be satisfactory in itself; (2) the same line must work harmonically and melodically in canon; (3) the result must be playable with two hands.
The title of my piece refers both to the Goldberg Variations and to the chase aspect of classical canons and fugues. Less directly, it refers to the hopeless aesthetic position of writing another variation to an already consummate work of art. I was chasing perfection.
Fred Lerdahl
<< back to compositions
