TRIPTYCH FOR TWO

Composer
SIMON EASTWOOD

Violin
MONIQUE LAPINS

Snare drum
NAOTO SEGAWA

Recording Engineer
JESSE AUSTIN-STEWART

Adam Concert Room,
New Zealand School of Music,
Victoria University of Wellington
25th of April 2018

Painting
OLEKSIY KOVAL

I thank
MICHAEL GENE AICHNER
CLAUS STIRZENBECHER
VERONIKA WENGER
for their precious collaboration
in the making of this painting and video.

The Beautiful Formula Casa, Munich
22nd of June 2018

My DMA research at the New Zealand School of Music, I am exploring the role that transformation and interpretation play in creative processes in both individual and communal situations. In this case, I am looking at meta-level transformations in which an entire piece is transformed through a reinterpretation by another artist. I will then in turn reinterpret that piece, and compare the results as a commentary on our individual creative processes. In doing this research I seek to find a way to produce closer and more equal collaborations by understanding the way in which the creative process works in both individual and collective situations.

Triptych for Two was written as an abstract study in rhythm and musical time, intended to be evocative without necessarily conjuring anything in particular. The first movement explores two conflicting pulse streams, related by a ratio of three against four. Each part develops according to its own logic, guided by two different Lindenmayer Systems that mimic the organic growth of natural organisms. The second movement, on the other hand, has an extremely regular pulse and instead develops a long arc of tension and release which unfolds over the course of the movement. The third movement works with larger blocks of sound, which are cut up and then spliced together to create a dynamic interplay between the two instruments. It briefly restates musical material from the previous two movements, ending the set with a fiery and energetic flourish.

The piece was written for Naoto Segawa and Monique Lapins, who perform as a violin and percussion duo in Wellington, New Zealand.

I would like to thank Oleksiy Koval for his wonderful interpretation.

Simon Eastwood