flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion

Commission: New York New Music Ensemble, with support from the CCA

Dedicated to the members of the New York New Music Ensemble.

In a single movement, the work unfolds like a long tactile tapestry or scroll, revealing textural patterns in successive order. One can imagine silk, wool, plastic, wood, denim and leather; polka dots, checks, stripes; rough, smooth, grainy, dense — each following on one other. Sections of Sept couleurs fade or overlap, or suddenly appear as part of a collage. The rhythm and shape of the work are carefully calculated. There are eight elementary parts, each lasting fifteen seconds. These parts are constructed on two separate “fabrics” of different lengths. With retrograde movements, variations and increases, Sept couleurs unfolds using these original materials, which appear in the middle of the work.

Here is a list of words describing the work: broken speech, changing density, silence, strata, tension, light, sharp. The final section embodies a still life, unified, borderless, the largest and most spacious of the three sections of the work. Why the title Sept couleurs? Perhaps because there are seven textures in the eight segments, but probably because I like the number seven.

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