Stephen Goss : Pierrot , or Harlequin? Doberman - Yppan

Stephen Goss

Doberman – Yppan : 15 pages

You always know that when you come across a Stephen Goss piece, it will be completely different from any other composer, and this latest piece is no different from that. The Preface tells the story of the piece in that the characters, being from the Commedia Dell ‘Arte , namely  Pierrot, Harlequin and Coliumbina are interacting with each other. Columbina is considering choosing one of them as a partner.So in this piece which is a set of variations on each of the three characters, we get them competing for Columbina’s attention. So Pierrot is quiet, thoughtful and sad, whilst Harlequin is skittish, noisy and unpredictable. So what we get here is a set of variations of each of the three of them mixed together .Columbina begins the piece, her first section being marked Coquettish, Free and Unpredictable in a B major 4/4, full of quick ideas, semi – quavers intermingled with quavers and absolutely flying all over the fingerboard, replete with multiple accidentals along the way. After Columbina 2 and 3, the piece slows down and then becomes Pierrot, marked Bittersweet and Expressive and in contrast to the foregoing is full of long held chords mixed with harmonics. Pierrot 2 continues these ideas a few bars longer before Columbina 4 speeds up from the previous, until it becomes the opening idea, varied of course.

And so the piece continues, changing character many times along the way and all written in a very modern, often dissonant style that to be honest won’t suit everyone. Not only that some of this is tremendously hard to play and so your technique has to be very good indeed. The final thing to mention is that there are 3 possible endings, No1 , marked Harlequin, which I presume means , he is the one picked.No2 Columbina , which seems to imply that she decides not to bother with either of them, and No3 marked  Pierrot, which is the most peaceful ending of the three and obviously leads me to think , he is the one picked by her.

This is a truly fascinating piece and, as I said, utterly different and very unusual for most of the time. So if you like this gentleman’s writing, and there are many who do, this piece will no doubt appeal to you, but you will need a considerable technique to even begin thinking of playing it.

Chris Dumigan