Elements: III was written contemporaneously with two very different pieces, Elements: I (a work for solo piano) and Elements II (a duo for violin and cello), and is, in fact, the result of playing those two pieces simultaneously.

Elements: I is a three-part structure, the outer parts comprising a series of five toccatas, and the central part a chorale. The more structurally complex Elements: II comprises an uninterrupted chain of nine movements: Prelude - Toccata - Cantabile - Scorevole - Crescendi - Cantabile - Pizzicato - Toccata - Fanfare.

All of the material for both Elements: I and Elements: II is drawn from the melodic and harmonic characteristics of the piano chorale. The progression of movements of the two pieces is quite independent, as is, of course, the progression of activity within the movements. In those sections of Elements: III where all three instruments do join together to create a single gesture, it is merely a happy "coincidence." Even the harmonic plans of the movements are independent, creating, in total, a constantly dovetailing bitonality (or more correctly, bi-tone-centered music), and achieving a harmonic singularity only at the very end of the work.

Elements: III is approximately twelve minutes long. It was commissioned for the Castalia Trio by the Pennsylvania State University Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies.

-- R. C.