Harmonic Gallery

Description

Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, Double Bass — Harmonic Gallery, commissioned by Network for New Music for premiere at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is a musical analog of a museum exhibition in which paintings, sometimes created hundreds of years apart, are shown in close proximity. There are three movements, surrounded by musical “frames.” “Minuetto” is reminiscent of the early nineteenth century when the minuet form started to escape its rigid formalities. “Angst” recalls the early twentieth century when tonality supposedly started to crumble. It is based on famous harmonies used by Richard Wagner and Arnold Schoenberg. “Dance” is unashamedly post-minimal and post-modern, and celebrates repetition and cadences. The four “frames’” comment on the harmonies of the movements that they surround.The three movements are very loosely related to three paintings in the collection: The Gordon Family, by Henry Benbridge, ca. 1762; Final Assault upon Fort Fisher, North Carolina, by Xanthus Smith, ca. 1872–73; Three Wise Men Greeting Entry into Lagos, by Kehinda Wiley, 2008.—Paul LanskyFrame 1 1’00”Minuetto (Post-Classical, c. 1810) 3’52”Frame 2 1’25”Angst (Post-Romantic, c. 1910) 3’53”Frame 3 1’22”Dance (Post-Modern, c. 2010) 5’35”Frame 4 0’50’Total Duration 17’55” Harmonic Gallery, commissioned by Network for New Music for premiere at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is a musical analog of a museum exhibition in which paintings, sometimes created hundreds of years apart, are shown in close proximity. There are three movements, surrounded by musical “frames” which comment on the harmonies of the movements.