Mikel Kuehn - Works

Circular Variations (2006-13), for piano 

Program Note

Circular Variations (2006-13), for solo piano, is a set of 19 short etudes, that can be arranged into multiple orders or small groups ad infinitum. Each piece explores a specific formal concept or aspect of performance practice, similar in some ways to Bartók's Mikrokosmos. The unrealized pitch material for each consists of the same sequence of 108 notes – a “chain” that acts as a musical Möbius strip, a continuously circular entity. In addition, each etude begins with the same three notes: C, D, and G, in the middle octave. One of my main objectives in the construction of this work was to see how much variety could result from using the exact same material for each short piece.

The following pieces make up the 19-piece set: Short/Long, Sinews, Ostinato, Four Voices, Pulsing, Primes, Chords, Threes, Resonance, Wedge, Continuum, Anacrusis, Three Voices, Sixes, Meditation, Contour, Formants, Sostenuto, and Mosaics.