Torch Song
Two phrases for a string quartet in slow motion.
Two phrases for a string quartet in slow motion.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines parsimony as “the careful or sparing use of money or other material resources; economy; thriftiness; frugality.” In the context of music theory, the word has come to describe a kind of maximally smooth transformation of one triad into another, wherein a single pitch within a triad moves by step to produce another. In scientific discourse, the principal of parsimony holds that the most acceptable explanation for a phenomenon is the simplest. The Oxford Reference Dictionary explains that “in phylogenetics, for example, the preferred tree showing evolutionary relationships between species, molecules, or other entities is the one that requires the least amount of evolutionary change, that is, maximum parsimony.”
In this piece, the string quartet forges a path through a densely microtonal field of chords. They move slowly and with great effort. They are dramatic and individualistic. They work cautiously to elaborate a thought. The piece’s harmonies grew stochastically, with a strong attraction towards parsimonious transformations of one sonority to another. In this context, the quartet asks: How is that such economy of motion might refract into something flamboyantly, perhaps tastelessly, expressive?