Matthew Rowan - Composer

2008 --
for six piano

Music From Three Fingers
arr. for piano duo

The approach to composing Music From Six Fingers was unique to me because I was writing for the ‘sound’ of an ensemble, not just for the instrumentation, and in this case the sound of six piano ensemble pianocircus is that of ‘one’ piano with multiple voices, an example of which can be heard in Steve Reich’s Six Pianos. In response to my main criticism of Six Pianos where too often strong themes only appear for a short time, I created five individual themes for this composition, one per movement, and these themes do not necessarily have direction but are allowed to mature without the risk of over development. In order to maintain clarity of the material throughout Music From Six Fingers I applied an arranging technique I had observed in the playing style of virtuoso jazz guitarist Tuck Andress who is capable of condensing compositions for ensembles into a single part for solo guitar by paying attention to dynamics, articulation, and register of each ‘voice’ simultaneously. To take full advantage of the fact that there were six identical instruments I arranged motifs and chords so that a choral effect could be produced to further differentiate between the separate voices; for example, the pitches of a minor triad, which would usually be played by one hand, are divided among three pianos. By focusing on each theme of Music From Six Fingers I was forced to consider what was necessary for the composition without relying solely on the novelty of the sound