Matthew Welch

Piano Quartet

Composer's Note:

The Mosaic of Iridescence had its origins developed in my ensemble Blarvuster and fueled sections of my opera Borges and the Other. It explores dense modal counterpoint and interlocking rhythms, further explored in a more chromatic way in one of my bagpipe concerti, The Favrile Opalescence. In its essence, The Mosaic of Iridescence is a piano quartet, exploring both 4 and 5 part-writing and the continuity of sound possible in this instrumentation.
As a creation in the post-minimalist vein, it thrives on repetition and input from the performers in terms of navigating the form and elements of modal improvisation. The repeats are ideally a minimum of 4 times through a module, however more repetitions throughout will yield a larger scale work if the performance context requires this, such as music for dance, theatre or a site-specific situation.
Despite the lack of slurring, it is to be played in a smooth and connected manner. As the modules progress within a lettered-section (A-1 to A-2, A-3, etc), their dynamics soften and open up more possibilities for expressive and colorful playing. Modules numbered 6 contain pitch sets for the performers to improvise with lyrically, texturally and rhythmically before the group elects to proceed by moving to the next letter-section by cue, or fashioning an ending at the close of H-6.