Wayne Peterson’s “Brief Encounters”

screen shot from the video being discussed

As announced yesterday morning, Earplay streamed a performance of the music of San Francisco composer Wayne Peterson as a memorial for his death this past April 7. The offering was a solo violin composition entitled “Brief Encounters,” played by Earplay violinist Terrie Baune. Brevity was definitely of the essence, since the entire performance lasted less than five minutes.

Nevertheless, the use of the plural was definitely accurate. Each “encounter” amounted to a gesture, which, on the one hand, was self-contained, but, on the other, contributed to an overall sequence. To some extent the entirety suggested the approach to the linking of short poems in a manner similar to that of Japanese renga. However, while renga involves collaboration among multiple poets, “Brief Encounters” clearly presented the voice of a single composer.

One might also approach “Brief Encounters” as a study in études on a microscopic scale. Each of those individual gestures had its own innovative technical challenges. However, while it was easy enough to focus on each of those gestures, there was a clear sense of flow that mapped out the composition in its entirety. Thus, there is very much a sense of a journey, however brief; and the visitor to the YouTube page may well be drawn into experiencing that journey multiple times as Peterson’s inventive details begin to reveal themselves.