Violaceous

About

'Violaceous' is an escape from tonality to the land of surrealism: a beautiful place of aural obscurity where serial and tonal elements are combined. The piece is predominantly serial, in four sections. The first section has two contrasting characters, the first is light and carefree while the second is reflective and emotional. They introduce two important motives. The first motive appears in the first six notes, it is a gesture that appears throughout the work in various disguises. The second is the minor second interval that dominates the latter part of the work. The second section is quirky and fun. It develops the grace notes and flourishes of the opening. The third section has the reflective character from the opening section. It gradually increases in tension until it reaches the fourth section, where the piece ends with the unleashing of a wild dance that frees itself by abandoning its rigid serial structure.