Instrumentation: Piano and bitKlavier tuned a quarter-tone apart
Duration: ca. 4:00
Program Note:
The idea for this work came after listening to Charles Ives’ Three Quarter-Tone Pieces, which employs two pianos tuned a quarter-step apart; this difference in tuning allows keyboardists to play some of the notes between the keys on a traditional piano. As I have explored the sounds of the bitKlavier (a virtual instrument that runs on a computer), I’ve realized that this software can offer an easy way to write for two keyboards in such a microtonal tuning system.
The work opens with a relaxed prelude which gradually introduces the dissonance of microtonal harmony. The second movement experiments with passing melodic and accompaniment material back and forth between the two keyboards and their respective tunings. The work ends with a game of tag, both keyboards missing one another by quarter-steps along the way.
Premiere: November 10, 2017; Spokane, WA. Jacqueline Southwick, piano; Peter Underhill, bitKlavier.
Peter A. Underhill 