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An orchestral piece in two sections, both having a moto perpetuo character and both containing 24 iterations of a transposing chaconne pattern. The first section is based on a three-chord chaconne, initially G-flat major, A-flat diminished, G major. The second section has a six-chord pattern, initially C-sharp minor, B-flat minor, E-flat minor, C major, G minor, A-flat augmented. Besides transposing, this chaconne also subject to overlapping. Each section possesses a cross-rhythmic character: 3/2 and 6/4 in section one, and 4/8 and 5/8 in section two. In early minimalist music, the question used to be, “Where is beat one?” In this piece, the question is, “Where is beat two?” Originally written for eight players in 1995, it was revised for full orchestra in January 2005, and revised again in 2019. The first section had its origins in a setting of Swinburne’s “A Leave-Taking,” and the second in my discarded Guitar Concerto of 1981.
Note: If there is not a separate celesta player, then it must be played by the first percussionist. That means that the second percussionist sometimes needs to play the tam-tam (or suspended cymbal), as well as the bass drum and three tom-toms.