Performed on July 6, 2024 at the Paul Hindemith Center in Blonay, Switzerland as part of soundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange 2024.

Leah Thomas, Clarinet
Mark Fewer, Violin
Mafalda Santos, Cello
Kyle Adam Blair, Piano
Julius Mauldin, Conductor
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Mirror-Laden is a potpourri of different characters, moods, and figures. I tried in constructing this piece to maximize the contrasts both within sections and in-between sections while still weaving a formal thread that would bind the whole piece in a sensible and self-consistent fashion. I have been thinking a great deal recently about the discrete sections that appear in various rock, pop, and metal genres, and I wanted to find an approach to my own music that would integrate this kind of compartmentalized approach. I found that by vastly simplifying my pitch language and by more intently focusing on rhythmic variation and dynamic fluctuation, I could more intuitively create chunks of music that, while rather dissimilar on the surface, are united through specific formal and character elements.

The “mirror” in the title derives from the oversaturation of inversion throughout the piece, whether with respect to pitch, rhythm, character, or timbre. As I discovered the pitch sequences that I would use in Mirror-Laden, I noticed a striking similarity of one sequence to the opening melody of “Subject and Reflection”—a short piece from the sixth book of Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos. Having found this uncanny resemblance, I decided to use this idea of reflection as a foundation for each section of the piece.

Julian Stuart-Burns - Mirror-Laden

Julian Stuart-Burns