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Programme Note

Premiere
April 4 1997
Alternate Currents
Music in the Mountains Spring Festival
Grass Valley, CA

Composer note:
ac dc is based on a simple, almost pop, chord progression that somehow found its way into 11/8, the basic time signature that runs throughout the whole piece. I layered oddly phrased melodies on top, with the cello playing a pizzacato bass groove.

ac dc was commissioned by the Alternate Currents ensemble, which made me think about electricity. I'm not a scientist or engineer, so I was free to imagine that alternating currents were something like two different speeds or rhythms going on simultaneously.

––Michael Gordon

ac dc was commissioned by Chamber Music America for Alternate Currents.