“Windsor Blue Number Seventeen”
Three Spaces uses percussion to explore three different types of space as they relate to composition. The first movement is focused on temporal space – the time between notes, and how different patterns overlap among the instruments. The second is focused on what I think of as cognitive space – a separation of elements into layers akin to the varying strata in a geological record. The percussion ensemble is well suited to this as it relies more on texture than on the more obvious pitch divisions. The final movement is focused on the physical performance space, and how the instruments and their layout affect what is possible to perform.
Premiered by the George Mason Percussion Ensemble, December 4, 2021: Michael Barranco, Elliott Godinez, Colton Morris, Nicholas Wright.