Instrumentation: Solo Piano

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Length: 7:44

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Composition Date: 1999

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Commissioned: CBC Radio

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Program Notes

Cancion was written for Sylvia Shadick-Taylor and commissioned through the CBC. At the time I started this piece I had studying the piano music of Claude Debussy. His ability to create many different layers while still being completely pianistic always impressed me and that’s the type of texture I was striving for. The introduction is a series of cluster chords that lead into section I which is driven by a 7/8 ostinato. Above that I weave a long melody derived from the phrygian mode. This scale is often associated with Spanish music and is why I called the piece Cancion, which is Spanish for song. The middle section is a slow chorale focusing more on harmony followed by a short recap of the material from section I.

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Score Excerpt