14 August 2004
Rhythmic invention in compound meters
Here's a quick look at the Kansas song "The Spider" from Point of Know Return (1977), the 2nd movement of Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3 (1995), the 3rd movement of Walter Piston's first String Quartet (1933), and the 3rd movement of Sergei Prokofiev's seventh Piano Sonata (1939-1942).
There is probably a specific name for this style of composition using compound meters. Eighth notes are grouped in shifting combinations of twos and threes to create larger, off-balance phrases. Even with the "lazy" left hand part, you can see the disorienting and fluid structure of the melody in the Kansas composition.
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All four of these compositions have that characteristic.
The movement from the Glass symphony builds from a single line adding additional voices then varying the texture of the piece throughout with pizzicato sections. The overall form is A-B-A with a coda introducing a new melody at around 4:52. The Kansas song is a very short rondo structured as A-B-A-C-A. The meter varies greatly throughout. The Piston piece is also a rondo, mixing meters of 2/4 and 5/8 (as 2+2+2+3) and 5/8 (as 2+3). The Prokofiev piece, marked precipitato, has much in common with the nervous looseness of the Kansas piece, although with much greater structure. It opens in long 7/4 measures and staggers rhythmic layers upon each other as the theme is repeated. The structure is A-B-A with a short coda.
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