Chamber Suite
This suite is a collection of playful short pieces for a mixed chamber ensemble, although there is an undercurrent of ennui throughout. Classical tropes are referenced and often subverted, although generally in the spirit of good humour. Through its bitonal and quartal harmony, simple modal melodies, rhythmic vigour and classical references the suite evokes images of Paris in the 1920s, and the composers associated with it, Stravinsky, Poulenc, Martinů, Satie and Les Six. Some adjacent although separate figures of influence in this case are Webern and Messiaen.
A general identity is shared across the more rhythmic pieces, while the interludes and postlude are part of a somewhat different world. They are all united though through an abundance of harmonic and melodic fourths and a fair amount of melodic reincorporation and adaptation.
The Introduction sets the tone for the suite. Fanfares are opposed with cacophonous celebrations, and moments of restrained calm. Toccata presents a quartal melody, similar in spirit to the fanfares against a driving staccato accompaniment. The Waltz contains many allusions to the Viennese waltz tradition and transitions abruptly into the finale, a reprise of the Introduction, with a pompous and overblown ending. Opposing these are the Interludes, composed in a freer style, echoing and recontextualizing material from the other movements, and the Postlude, which is hinted at throughout the work and provides a withdrawn and reserved conclusion to this set of boisterous short pieces.