Score [ePDF]
De Tribus Impostoribus : for piano [eScore] / Michael Kieran Harvey.
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Score
De Tribus Impostoribus : for piano / Michael Kieran Harvey.
Library shelf no. 786.2/HAR 43 [Available for loan]
$49.09
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De Tribus Impostoribus (The Three Imposters) is a 17th century book by an anonymous writer alleged to be Spinoza.The three sections of the book form the tripartite structure of this piano work, originally written for harp. Each movement is a character piece ruminating on the influence of the book's mythical figures on peaceful human coexistence.
I am grateful to Dr Arjun von Caemmerer for alerting me to Eliot Weinberger's 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, in which the 19 translations of Wei's poem Deer Park transform the original Tang Dynasty Chinese into wildly differing versions more reflective of the different authors' psyches than fidelity to the original. De Tribus Impostoribus similarly "translates" or transforms the original text into musical materials and structures which then feed off their own constant reinterpretation.
Work Details
Year: 2024
Instrumentation: Piano, 1 cm thick eraser, 2 x 0.5 cm plastic wall plugs or similar.
Duration: 15 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — High virtuosity, extended techniques
First performance: by Michael Kieran Harvey — 14 Sep 24. St Stephen's Church, Richmond, Victoria
Movement I begins tonally enough but ends in an atonal non sequitur through a process of constant interpretation of the original melodic row, a kind of musical hermeneutics. This process is common in the study of ancient texts. Movement II continues this reinterpretation of materials, this time with extended techniques, abrupt arrests and polyrhythmic textures, a prime sequence applied to various chordal groups and a climactic chorale. Movement III explores an ostinato interpretation of the main theme from Movement I, which is modulated through various treatments, noise interruptions via palm clusters and reharmonisations, ending with passages of ecstatic palm clusters and glissandi.There is a further hermeneutical process in the transcription from harp to piano, where the original harp sound world is gesturally and timbrally reimagined on piano.
Performances of this work
14 Sep 24: St Stephen's Church, Richmond, Victoria. Featuring Michael Kieran Harvey.
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