Triple Point
The triple point of a substance is the combination of temperature and pressure at which the solid, liquid, and gas phases of that substance can all exist in equilibrium. For example, at a temperature of approximately 0.0098 °C and a vapor pressure of approximately 0.00604 atmospheres, H2O can freely pass between liquid water, ice, and water vapor; this temperature and pressure is thus the triple point of water. Similarly, I feel that Triple Point has three overarching "phases" -- vaporous and insubstantial, evenly fluid, and frozen and crystalline -- through which the flute navigates.
Triple Point opens with an unmetered section, filled with breath-length phrases and periodic silences, recalling the mood of Six Hours in the Isolation Booth, as seen through an abstracted, Cubistic lens. The broad strokes of Six Hours become jagged lines and planes, interrupted by sudden flourishes. The phase of the music is predominantly gas in this section, though there are moments when it coalesces into drops of liquid, or solid blocks. This section is succeeded by a brief metrical interlude, almost purely liquid in phase. At the end of this interlude, the temperature cools down slightly and the music momentarily freezes, before returning to a gaseous state. This second unmetered section is similar to the opening section, although the phase more frequently shifts between gas and liquid. The temperature and pressure both increase, and the music threatens to burst out of its confines. Instead, it turns to a coda which, quite frankly, took me by surprise when I wrote it. The coda is solid all the way through, proceeding at a slow and deliberate tempo in 3/4 time. While the melody in the preceding sections was freely composed, shifting in tonality but tending to hint at D major, the coda begins with four complete cycles of a 12-tone row, presented without transposition or any other other serial operations. Midway through a fifth cycle, the flute gets stuck on a three-note segment of the row, and after a few repetitions of this segment, ascends into the stratosphere. The flute continues to obsess over these few notes, elaborating on them over several repetitions. The strict metrical boundaries begin to break down, and the elaborations of the three-note cell become increasingly unstable. The register abruptly collapses, from the top of the flute's third octave to the bottom of the first octave, and as the melody comes to rest on D natural, the sound of the flute itself sublimates, with the standard flute tone giving way to a shower of whistle-tone harmonics.
Triple Point was written in December of 2005, and is dedicated to my father, Jon Curtis, in celebration of both his 58th birthday, and his engagement to Sandy Adams.
