Fractal No. 17
solo piano
(2013)

Duration: 3 minutes

Premiered March 2013
Ciro Longobardi
Chicago IL

Composer’s Note

Fractal No. 17 is a piece for solo piano that explores the transformational network and musical implications generated from the basic structure of a bicycle wheel. The basic macro architecture strings these bicycle wheels together and puts them through a series of rotations and transformations.

This network implies a chronological motion from left to right in its most general idea, but the spokes of each wheel do not imply the same temporal movement. The cyclical nature of the wheel makes it impossible to define a beginning or end, suggesting a visual representation of a specific compositional effect in the piece. It is possible to create a network that more accurately portrays the placement of the wheel transformations in a chronological context, but the intention of the piece does not call for this type of organization. Instead, the network presents the transformation wheels as part of a larger structure, showing the transformational and temporal relationships between the central pods as well as the connection between pod and wheel spoke transformations.