Triad - David Evan Thomas

Composer: David Evan Thomas

Instrumentation: Solo piano

Duration: 12 minutes

Date Written: 1997 

Additional Information:

Triad is a work in three connected movements, a triptych in which a toccata and chaconne elaborate ideas which are united in a concluding fugue as countersubject and episode material. The individual movements are inseparable from the whole; thus, a triptych (or triad) is formed. Tonally, the movements progress from E through A to C, outlining a triad of another kind. Shannon Wettstein gave the premiere in 2005, and has performed it many times since.

“[A]n excellent listen…. This latter composition makes no secret of its old-fashioned manner of handling material, casting its three sections into clear versions of toccata, passacaglia, and fugue. The most tonally focused work heard tonight—though not always triadic in nature—it manages to avoid mustiness by exhibiting a punchy, tight, memorable manner of speech and emotional sincerity one encounters all too rarely.” – David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur