Visions from Revelation

Visions from Revelation is a sketch of Revelation 4 portrayed through piano and fixed media. The pianism makes tribute to several composers. Eleven Echoes of Autumn by George Crumb influenced the inside-of-the-piano operations. In the second piece, the extended techniques go nearly as far as the musique concrète instrumentale writing in Helmut Lachen- mann’s Guero. Naturally, the concept of prepared piano in movement one comes from John Cage, but the soundscape is in the vein of Crumb’s Makrokosmos using a thimble to mute strings.  The pitch organization for the movements vary. In the first movement, the pitch content is a cross between intervallic harmonic techniques and pandiatonicism. The scale is similar to D Major, but the tendency toward tritones raises the 4th scale degree while lowering the 7th. Furthermore, the scale occasionally lowers the 2nd and 6th scale degree for the sake of intervallic integrity as well as for bringing a strong pull down to the 1st and 5th scale degree. The second movement applies Messiaen’s third mode of limited transposition, which is one of the most chromatic of his modes. Using this mode and carefully designing the melodic contour, the pitch material imitates the sound quality of the inside piano operations. The third movement is more intuitive with the horizontal pitch structure, but vertically there are general guidelines. The harmonic intervals consist of minor 2nds and perfect 5ths at the beginning. By measure 71, the minor 2nds invert to major 7ths, and by measure 122, the perfect 5ths invert to perfect 4ths.  Overall, this piece has a triumphal nature prompted by the programmatic material of the throne room from Revelation 4. Musically it displays virtuosic writing in the style of composers like Crumb and Lachenmann. The pitch material derives from several different 20th century techniques as well as some more intuitive approaches that evoke the triumphant feel