2016

“In patterns of shade” explores, in sound, the image of shadows dancing on surfaces, such as one might observe on a windy day in the late afternoon, the shadows of one swaying branch intermingling with the architecture, or the shifting clouds, to create a shimmering visual effect. The general concept is perhaps similar to the impressionists’ musical investigations of water, or clouds. Here the performers have equal roles in the various sections. Their individual voices are subsumed into larger musical textures, blurring together in a shifting whole. While there is a very detailed approach to the microtonal harmonies and the “prepared” timbres of the piano and vibraphone, there is an improvisational quality to the rhythm and the pace of the music. I’ve tried to strike a balance between these highly structured and spontaneous aspects of the work.
 

Premiered by Timothy Munro, Erik Griswold and Vanessa Tomlinson  at Queensland Conservatorium, 20 July 2011.

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"the fluid rhythms of Erik Griswold’s In Patterns of Shade took us on their dappled journey." - Matthew Lorenzon, Partial Durations