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Programme Note

Language, in order for it to function as a language - the communication of ideas - has to maintain a certain amount of structural redundancies, the patterns of which through sufficient repetitions will create a syntax from which meaning can be derived. The concept of continuity is of utmost importance here.
In art, on the other hand, the discontinuity of such "patterns" is most desirable. However, the toleration of such discontinuity varies from individual to individual: What one may regard as a discontinuity in a certain work of art, another will perceive it as randomness offering nothing but chaos and total disorientation. But one fact remains. If one can predict with total success everything that is going to happen, the work of art can be boring.
With this is mind, I have decided not to give any clue as to what my piece, The Mad Frog, is about. The enjoyment of it can best be obtained through the personal experiences that each listener has had with the concept of discontinuity in art - music, in this particular case. However, for those who have a fascination for "imagery landscapes", I have the following to offer. These are some of the items that occupied my thoughts throughout the genesis of the "......Frog":
. . . . . First, frogs - especially the RANA PIPIENS
. . . . . Morse Peckham's Man's Rage for Chaos
. . . . . William Thomas McKinley's Etude for solo harp
. . . . . Heinz Holliger
. . . . . Eric Dolphy
. . . . . B.F. Simon, to whom the work is dedicated
. . . . . Mary C. Dickerson's The Frog Book
. . . . . as a matter of fact, all kinds of frogs
. . . . . a scenario? The Swamp, of course . . . .
. . . . . eclectic?
. . . . . what else?