Games for two pianos

Score

In the piece, sonic games are played between the two pianos as musical ideas are thrown back and forth. At times, the two pianos are in agreement, on the same team, so to speak. In such cases, one player may provide added resonance to her collaborator, or one piano may echo the other creating something of a three-dimensional quality to the music. At other times, the two pianos seem to square off, vying for attention. Jarring chords of one piano may stab through angular melodies of the other, or one player may interject and interrupt as if in argument with the other. The piece ends with a coda in which the two pianos come to final agreement in full resonant support of each other. Games was commissioned by the Iowa Music Teachers Association (IMTA) in conjunction with the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).


Performances

—June 3, 2007: Iowa Music Teachers Association Conference, Luther College (Decorah, IA)