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Premiere:    eighth blackbird. Pittsburgh, PA, 2008.

Duration:    6:00

Difficulty:    Advanced/Professional

Instrumentation:    Pierrot ensemble + percussion (no voice).

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Program Notes: tritonicity is a piece based thematically on a tritone. While considered one of the harshest intervals to the ear, it is used extensively in classical and jazz music because of its instability. This piece vascillates through jazz-inflected sections and lyrical, flowing sections while maintaining the importance of the tritone throughout. The performers have the added challenge of moving between swing eighths, common to the jazz idiom and straight eighths. tritonicity features the bass clarinet in many of the faster passages then contrasts it with extended tertian textures inherent in both jazz and twentieth century music.

This recording is from a concert by the Grammy-winning contemporary music group eighth blackbird.

Scores are available for $12. Purchase here.

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Piano solo version of tritonicity here.