120
and appear throughout the movement. Stacked thirds are avoided in this voicing, and the
open sound of the fourths provides an ambiguity about tonality. The trichord (016) lies
comfortably on the piano in this voicing and is used throughout the third movement of
the sonata, unifying the piece as a whole. In general Larsen does not transpose motives in
this piece; however motive x and its variant are unique in that the starting pitches
alternate between B, E-flat, and F as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Ibid., Motive x Transpositions
|
Measure________ |
Starting Pitch |
Other___________ |
|
3-5________________ |
B_____________ | |
|
9-11_______________ |
E-flat_______________ | |
|
17-19_____________ |
B____________ |
tremolo___________ |
|
36-37 (variant) |
F_______________ |
tremolo___________ |
|
43-45_____________ |
B_____________ | |
|
91-92 (variant) |
F_______________ |
tremolo___________ |
|
102-104__________ |
B_____________ | |
|
107-109__________ |
B_____________ |
The variant of motive x (shown in Example 3.10) features faster-moving harmony
and tremolo. The range is expanded another octave, and the pitch collections in the viola
part change every beat like Example 3.9 from Cajun Set. A percussive effect is created by
the accents over the last grouping of notes.
Example 3.10: Viola Sonata, First mvt., mm. 36-37, viola only, x variant
