Concertino à Tre

Concertino à Tre

Concertino à Tre

for flute, bassoon and piano

Program Notes

  1. Trio 1
  2. Solo 1 (bassoon)
  3. Duet 1 (piccolo and piano)
  4. Trio 2
  5. Duet 2 (bassoon and piano)
  6. Solo 2 (flute)
  7. Trio 3
  8. Duet 3 (alto flute and bassoon)
  9. Solo 3 (piano)
  10. Trio 4

Concertino à Tre was written at the request of Matt and Kathy Karr for the Kentucky Center Chamber Players concert series in Louisville, Kentucky. Matt and Kathy are, respectively, the principal bassoonist and principal flutist of the Louisville Orchestra. In exchange for the piece, Matt used his woodworking skills to build a beautiful piece of furniture for our house. For a while I toyed with the idea of subtitling this piece “The Hutch.”

This composition is built around a semi-symmetrical structure of ten short movements, with four trio movements as the cornerstones of the work. Each instrument has a solo movement to itself, while each of the three duet possibilities is also explored.

The last movement is a free retrograde of the first movement, while Trio 2 and Trio 3 are based partially on the same pitch motives. Similarly, each wind instrument’s solo movement is motivically related to the duet movement it plays with the piano. The movements explore a wide variety of tempos, moods and textures, but the general atmosphere is much more playful than serious.

Concertino à Tre was composed during a residency at the MacDowell Colony in the summer of 1995. The premiere was given by the Karrs along with pianist Joanna Goldstein, who have recorded the work. It has also been performed by the Trio Neos of Mexico City and other groups.

found on Marc Satterwhite’s CD, Witnesses of Time: Chamber Music of Marc Satterwhite