Nearly Finished First Movement and Moving Onward

I have now nearly completed the first movement of my piano trio, which ends with the third ring of hell: Gluttony. I am extremely pleased with my progress and how the piece is developing thus far.

I want to use this post to discuss the next movement of my trio. While the first movement was divided into sections with each depicting a specific ring of hell, the next movement (and the last movement as well) will combine the rings into one integrated structure. I have chosen to do this for a couple of reasons. The first is that the literary depictions of the next three rings are more similar to that of the vastly contrasting first three rings (as depicted in the first movement). The next three rings are: Greed, Anger and Heresy which feature jousting (physical fighting between the souls) and fire. At the moment, angular melodies, clusters, and unexpected rhythmic pulsations will play a key role in the musical material for the movement. As well, I wanted to vary the form of each movement in order to avoid a sense of consistency and predictability in the musical layout.

I will be presenting my work on this movement in class this week and am looking forward to some more feedback from the class.