Canon for Lulu

1999

Title: Canon for Lulu

Instrumentation: Violin and Violoncello

Year: 1999

Duration: 1′45″

Premiere: San Francisco, USA 1999

Performers: Anna Presler and Leighton Fong

LuLu_1999-01

Canon for Lulu (Ming Tsao, Edition Peters, System 2)

Lulu_Bach

J.S. Bach: Canon a 2 (Musikalisches Opfer, 1747)

Lulu_1999-02

Canon for Lulu (Ming Tsao, Edition Peters, System 10)

Ray-au-soleyl-1

Johannes Ciconia, Le ray au soleil (ca. 1390)

This concentrated canon utilizes two complex canonic techniques: retrograde and prolation (or mensuration). One voice plays the melody forward while another plays it backward and at different speeds. The mathematical structure that emerges from this interplay between pitch, rhythm, and tempo creates resistances for an expressive language to emerge between the two instruments.