the golden apple of discord (2013)

the golden apple of discord
Instrumentation: Flute Viola Harp. Duration: circa 12 minutes.

context:
the golden apple of discord is a development [especially through the addition of new material for harp] of the original duo for flute and viola, titled ERIS being the Greek goddess of strife and discord. The Golden Apple of Discord (Greek: μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος) which, according to Greek mythology, the goddess Eris inscribed “for the most beautiful one” and tossed in the midst of the festivities at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, thus sparking a vanity-fueled dispute between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War. Thus, “apple of discord” is used to signify the core, kernel, or crux of an argument, or a small matter that could lead to a bigger dispute. This music is in no way programmatic of the above events.

I have played with the notion of the poisioned apple [apple of discord] because at first appearance the apple looks attractive and desirable but later reveals its true, destructive nature. I felt much the same about this trio of flute, viola and harp, a combination traditionally associated with very beautiful, [perhaps] mainly French music. The sounds are indeed lovely and a composer could weave a delicate tracery of sound that would typify expectation for this conbination. I have chosen a different, more angular and robust route. This is not to say that the music does not take advantage of the beautiful and delicate sonorities available, but to counter this, percussive and sometimes brutal sounds are also called for; hence the apple of discord [the music is not quite what you would expect upon first encountering it and develops to become quite ‘argumentative’]. Conveniently, the golden apple of discord, as a myth, links very neatly to that of ERIS, creating a relationship between the two pieces that exists in the music as well.