Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Variations in a Serious Black Dress, for piano (1995)
Topology
Arrangement for quintet by Robert Davidson.
This piece is conceived as a set of variations on two contrasting themes-both stated successively at the very beginning. Theme 1 is a melody employing a limited number of pitches. Theme 2 follows as a cycle of 13 chords with A minor as the harmonic centre. In the first two variations these elements are treated simultaneously, whereas starting form the third they get more and more detached from one another. The means of varying the material are derived from aspects of rhythm, register and texture, while the melodic/harmonic shape remains static almost throughout. [australianmusiccentre.com.au]
Art by Alex Katz
Variations in a Serious Black Dress, for piano (1995)
Topology
Arrangement for quintet by Robert Davidson.
This piece is conceived as a set of variations on two contrasting themes-both stated successively at the very beginning. Theme 1 is a melody employing a limited number of pitches. Theme 2 follows as a cycle of 13 chords with A minor as the harmonic centre. In the first two variations these elements are treated simultaneously, whereas starting form the third they get more and more detached from one another. The means of varying the material are derived from aspects of rhythm, register and texture, while the melodic/harmonic shape remains static almost throughout. [australianmusiccentre.com.au]
Art by Alex Katz
