Duration @ 17min.
"Eclipse" (1982) is a piano
sonata in four contiguous movements
involving
the juxtaposition of and expansion toward musical extremes. The two
opening
gestures - a massive cluster, from which emerges a single tone - form a
microcosm
of what is later expressed as a climactic sound mass followed by a very
simple tune [pronounced "toon" - a simplistic tonal anacronism with
which
composers of the late 20th century are loathe to be associated]. The
interaction
of these two extremes is not unlike the cosmological metaphor expressed
by the title. A solar eclipse not only displays the abrupt contrast of
light and dark but also of every shade in between. Similarly, the
sonata
explores a few of the vast array of musical possibilities that exists
between
the two opening gestures.
LISTEN-