Work
Twelve Colours: Homage to Paul Klee
for Piano Quartet
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About
This piano quartet takes inspiration from an abstract work (1936 oil on canvas) by Paul Klee: New Harmony features hard-edged rectangles in 12 non-complementary colours that are juxtaposed but structured so that they form a coherent and harmonious whole. Accordingly, the piano quartet features 12 musical "colours", each wholly distinct in musical language but creating a coherent whole. Klee is said to have believed that pleasure in art is to be derived from inner complexity: even his most playful lines take viewers for a walk that entails rhythm, rhyme, shape, tension and relaxation. This defines the sound ideal for the music. Each "colour" is provided with a style descriptor as guidance for the players:
The title, Twelve Colours, may suggest use of twelve-tone technique: in fact, only one of the colours is based on a tone row (Colour 11) and it is stated only once, with no inversions, retrograde, or transposed versions.
Dedication note
Homage to Paul Klee
Contents note
Colour 1: Capriccio (the demisemiquavers are written out trills, to be played for effect - not in strict time)
Colour 2: Espressivo
Colour 3: Energico
Colour 4: Dolente
Colour 5: Precipitando
Colour 6: Appassionato e molto rubato
Colour 7: Delicato
Colour 8: Giocoso (in mod di giga)
Colour 9: Lento e luminoso
Colour 10: Agitato
Colour 11: Calmato
Colour 12: Scherzo