Klee Musings is a work in three movements taking the names for each movement from the paintings by Paul Klee: I Triple Marionette, II Cathedrals...

Klee Musings is a work in three movements taking the names for each movement from the paintings by Paul Klee: I Triple Marionette, II Cathedrals & III Highways and Byways. Movement I evokes a three-headed marionette, the music starts and ends in prime unison, as if all the dancing marionettes are aligned, and throughout each instrument (marionette) asserts it's own musical flair and spirit, which results in contrapuntal, jazzy adventure. Delicate, resonant and mostly quiet, Movement II calls for the piano's damper pedal to be held down for the entire movement and musical modes are woven together in a resounding fabric, each ribbon of sound evoking the life-force of one of the many cathedrals depicted in Klee's painting. Highways and Byways' simultaneous view of time and space is the inspiration for Movement III, which climbs itself through harmonic and registral ladders, and traverses many horizontals, verticals and diagonals. Augusta Read Thomas