Allan Blank

Interplay

Interplay, completed in August of 2007, is for flute/piccolo, clarinet in A, french horn, and piano. The work is in four movements. The first movement is based on shifting regroupings of these four instruments. The second, subtitled TUMULT, aims for a driving and vigorous sound, with attention to the high register. The third movement, marked PENSIVE, is in three sections. The first section features the horn, the second an interplay between the flute and clarinet, the third back to the horn and a reappearance of the flute and clarinet. The piano gains prominence as the movement unfolds. The fourth movement comes closest to a toccata. A high point comes with a reference to theopening of the first movement twenty measures before the closing phrases. Jugend, by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, would program well musically as well as instrumentally with this piece.