Retournai: Toccata a Quatre for Flute, Trombone, Marimba and Piano
Composers:- Freund, Don
Duration: 5
Description:
The anonymous 14th-century Tournai Mass is the earliest known polyphonic cycle of the Ordinary of the Mass. “ReTournai” by revisits the first 11 chords of the Agnus Dei of this Mass, a fascinating example of early functional chromatic harmony. Written for a quartet consisting of flute, trombone, marimba and piano, the first four melodic notes are F-E-F#-G, a sort of twisted version of the famous B-A-C-H motive. In “ReTournai” this material is juxtaposed and superimposed on a percolating toccata whose principal obsession is the way tempo shifts when fast notes of equal value are collected in groups of 3’s and 4’s.