Trionometry

For flute, clarinet and piano

Year: 1996
Duration: 16'
Category: Chamber
Commission: Commissioned by the U.C.Davis Contemporary Players.
Premiere: April, 13th 1996
Wyatt Pavilion, University of California in Davis
Tod Brody, flute, Peter Josheff, clarinet, Karen Rosenak, piano
Purchase: C.F. Peters Corporation

0:00

Program Notes
Trionometry, for flute, clarinet doubling on bass clarinet, and piano, was commissioned by the University of California in Davis, where it received its premiere performance in April of 1996. It is a virtuoso work in three movements linked together by a short ritornello. I had been fascinated by the unique sonorities that are produced by this combination of instruments, particularly when the flute and bass clarinet are widely separated in register. The vivacious energy of Trionometry's outer movements has its roots in my deep love of jazz. The second movement achieves, by contrast, an almost meditative serenity.

“Richard Festinger’s Trionometry was simply breathtaking… This technically demanding tour de force begins with a delicate exposition which… eventually explodes into a contrapuntal argument of grandiose proportions… like a multi-stage rocket that – ignoring gravity – traverses the earth’s atmosphere. Bravo!”