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Longleash Trio Premieres Katherine Balch's different gravities

Jul. 28, 2023

The Longleash Trio will perform the world premiere of Katherine Balch's different gravities on August 13 at the Loretto Retreat Center in Nerinx, Kentucky as part of their annual Loretto Project, of which Balch is this year's resident composer. 

The composer notes:
"different gravities is a musical take on ideas and images that have been rolling around in my head since reading Liu Cixin’s Three Body Problem trilogy. In this science-fiction saga, Cixin introduces readers to many concepts in theoretical physics and astrophysics, one of which is the trilogy’s namesake, the problem of solving the motion of three gravitationally interacting bodies. Cixin’s book lend me down many delightful Wikipedia rabbit-holes, thinking about the way gravity looms omnipresent in my life on this planet and the fantastical number of other kinds of gravitational circumstances besides Earth’s little g. It also seemed an apt way to think about the relationships in chamber music: mutual attraction of greater or lesser strength between musicians or musical materials, the downward fall of a musical line or phrase towards some resolution, the push and pull of intonation. Different gravities imagines a kind of musical planet-hopping: each movement lets musical relationships play out according to their unique “gravitational” circumstances. This piece is written with affection for Longleash Trio: Pala Garcia, John Popham, and Julia Den Boer."

The four-movement work was commissioned by Longleash Trio with support from the Serge Koussevitsky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky.

Listen to Katherine Balch's drip music:

Katherine Balch/drip music/Talea Ensemble/James Baker, conductor

To learn more about Katherine Balch, visit schott-music.org.

Katherine Balch
different gravities (2023)
for piano trio
17'

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