Triptyque for String Orchestra - III. Presto

(Mvmt III. is 10:25-13:23)

Program Note: "'Triptyque' was commissioned by Austrian conductor Kurt Wöss, who was then Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan. Wöss premiered it with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in December 1953, and the score was published in the Soviet Union after Akutagawa’s visit there between 1954 and 1955.

Akutagawa had taken the title of his work from Polish-born composer Alexandre Tansman’s Triptyque (1930). The idea of a triptych informs Akutagawa’s conception of the work: although the three movements in Triptyque are separate, they are intrinsically linked through the repeated use of the opening rhythmic figure. 

The third movement brings back a rhythmic figure from the first movement in its reversed form, and this infuses the music with the momentum that drives towards a festive end." - Kelvin H.F. Lee

Mixed Meter: The opening section alternates between 2/4 and 3/8 time!

Table of Contents:
-Mvmt. I - Allegro
-Mvmt. II - Berceuse
-Mvmt. III - Presto