Written: 2012
Duration: 2:45
Instrumentation: piano
Commissioned By: the Chautauqua Institution for the 17th Annual Chautauqua Piano Competition.
Serried with a tinge of bop is a somewhat less than thinly veiled pun on the famous song, Surrey with a fringe on top, from Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma. Neither song nor musical are quoted or stylistically referenced in any way. Serried simply refers to the work's dense, highly compact texture, while tinge of bop alludes to my take on the harmonic language, melodic angularity and highly syncopated rhythms of the bebop style.
Performance Note
In the spirit of competition for which this piece was written, dynamics, articulations and pedalings, unless marked, are ad libitum to provide ample room for interpretation. Rubato should be held to a minimum in favor of a steady pulse from which the performer's own mix of scat-like syncopation arises in order to achieve an underlying bebop feel-- but played straight, no swing. Multiple lines and voice leading are carefully structured to delineate melodic and counter-melodic lines against the thick harmonic texture.