I just finished writing a piece for flute and piano called Blister-Cuffs. It’s comprised of four short movements following the predictable fast-slow-slow-fast formula. Here’s a passage from the last few bars of the first movement(Which bears the expressive marking “Mocking” at the top):
The third movement has the tempo marking “Comatose” and only has two notes, a B flat and B natural, until the end where the flute plays a little flourish before the piano reprises the semi-tone relationship with the last flute note. It’s only a page long! Excerpt:
In a way, Blister-Cuffs has a program involving some sort of a pummeling match between the flute and the piano. I had no concept in mind when I started writing the piece and it wasn’t until I wrote the tempo marking “Berzerk” at the head of the fourth movement that I had any inkling of what it’s about. It’s good to know I’m not too jaded to be surprised by my own music.
Chris Sivak | Composer 