Links & Chains (1996/2000)
for violin and marimba (six-mallets)

Duration: 5'15"
Instrumentation: violin and 4 1/3 octave marimba (six-mallets)
Written for Christoph Schickedanz

Premiere: Master’s Recital, Indiana University School of Music, Auer Hall, Bloomington, IN, December 14, 1996, Christoph Schickedanz, violin and Robert Paterson, marimba.
Publisher: Robert Paterson Music (ASCAP)

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Program Notes

The title of this piece reflects the structure: many parts and motives are linked and looped together, forming chains. There are also missing links throughout the piece, spots where notes have been dropped out and placed in other parts of the piece or else lost entirely. The violin part is designed to be a showy and slightly virtuostic, coupled with a solid, ostinato-like marimba counterpart. Both parts utiliize flashy, extended techniques.