Occasionally, music

duet for violin and cello, 2013

Occasionally, music is a set of three “crab canons” – in each movement the cello plays the same notes as the violin in reverse. The piece draws upon a spare, dramatically reduced palette, consisting mostly of single, unadorned pitches. The notes alternate and overlap with each other to create one line shared between the two instruments. The sounding result occupies an ambiguous position, not quite a unified melody, but not quite a series of harmonies either. As the line and its own mirror image drift past each other in canon, they sometimes align to produce certain iconic musical fragments – a major triad, a minor third, a stack of fifths, etc. These culturally resonant sound objects provoke moments of fleeting recognition; occasionally it is as if some other piece of music has come into view.

Wooden Cities
Evan Courtin, violin
T.J. Borden, cello