Inventions and Sinfonias: The Crux Constellation Piano Solo - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1789615

The Southern Cross, or the Crux, is a constellation of bright stars in the southern celestial hemisphere. This pair of pieces is named after the two brightest, Acrux and Mimosa, which at first observation seem similar to our own star the sun; however, Acrux is in reality a system of six stars, many of them much larger than our own. Mimosa, a triple star system, includes a star so massive that it could explode into a supernova. Similarly, the invention and sinfonia are a traditional form that I have alienated with unusual harmonies, lightyears different from those of the miniatures of JS Bach, yet resolving into familiarity when viewed at a difference. The Invention "Mimosa" opens the pair with a slow and deliberate expansion of a flowing, nearly meditative subject. As "Mimosa" returns to a lone ringing pitch, the Sinfonia "Acrux" bursts into being with the flamboyant running counterpoint of a sextuple star system. These two works will join other celestial Inventions and Sinfonias as a part of an ongoing project.

My Inventions and Sinfonias are compositional exercises to develop flexible and dynamic systems of sonorities, systems which I am calling metatonalities. The entire cycle of sixteen pairs will showcase sixteen different metatonal systems, which are in essence 7-note partitions of 12-tone rows. I have adopted the names of constellations and stars for the individual pieces to group the pairs in a non-ordinal manner, also reflecting the familiar yet otherwordly effect of these metatonalities.

The ordinality of a 12-tone row is important, as it provides a syntax of imbricated trichords, supplying a systematic framework for harmony vis-à-vis the melodic ornamentation allowed by the unorderd heptachord. Furthermore, use of the eight inversionally invariant heptachords (excluding the trivial 7-1, a stack of half-steps) allows for a relationship analogous to the major and relative minor in common practice tonality; that is to say, by taking either the inversion or retrograde inversion of a row and finding the invariant transposition, a chain of inverted harmonies can coexist in the same space and allow for the imitation of the syntax of minor tonality. While I do not use a classical serial approach, the 12-tone row is valuable as a means of describing all transpositions of the metatonal system as well as providing the ability to seemlessly phase in-between metatonality and serialism for the purpose of modulation or artistic expression. Additionally, the unusual meters of some of the pieces explore how meter relates to counterpoint and harmony.