Reworking the 3rd movement

I had initially skipped over the 3rd movement of Trackings No. 2 in favor of the 4th movement.  Now I am going back and working on the 3rd.  This is a tricky movement as the cello and bass play harmonics in the first twenty-two measures and again from measure thirty-six to forty-six (the end of the movement).  Even in the section from measure twenty-three to thirty-five is not played "normally."  These thirteen measures are more focused on the bowing shifting between sul ponticello and sul tasto.

How do I approach adding piano to this movement?  This is the question that led me to skipping over this movement in favor of the fourth.  On the original sketch score I have made a couple of notes to myself about this.  One is to compose a part where the piano does not go below middle C.  This makes sense as the cello and bass perform harmonics, so their actual pitch will be in the upper register.  Also this movement title is "Crystal" so it does lend itself well to the playing in the upper registers.

Another note says to "create slow moving oscillations" and to "think shimmering."  Again these suggestions lend themselves well to the idea of crystals.  With the cello and bass performing long tones some sort of motion in the piano part does seem necessary.  In order to create a fitting piano part I will need to look at the harmonies created in the strings.

Another consideration I will need to make in this movement is the duration.  As it is this movement is just over three minutes.  The goal for this piece is to limit the movements to no more than two minutes each.  These movements should be "scenes" or "vignettes" and not too long.  The approach I will take with the accompaniment may be dependent on what I decide to cut from the movement.  If the material is interesting enough I may try to adapt the cut section(s) into the piano part.

This movement does provide an interesting set of challenges.  I will need to take my time to carefully craft a logical piano part.  It will be interesting to see and hear the end result.