Op.5 – LABYRINTH, PIANO TRIPTYCH (2026) – ca. 12′
Composed for entry in the 1st “Contrapuncta” International Composition Competition—deadline 30 Jun 2026, Bordeaux, France; dedicated to concert pianist and pedagogue Daniele Del Deo.
Composition: Como, May–Jul 2025 (s.1); rev. Dec 2025–Jan 2026 (s.2), revision/consolidation from earlier sources (cf. Genealogy); final authorial text completed 14 Jan 2026
Form/structure: 3-movement cycle — I. Impulse-Echo, II. Memory, III. Parable
Instrumentation: SOLO PIANO
Textual History/Genealogy (movement-level sources & key changes – dates refer to Patamu witnesses, Op. to obsolete numbering):
I. Impulse-Echo — Suite Lirica (7-piece set) Op.1b, No.1 Lieve, fugace; largo (15 Feb 2022). C♯ m →B m
II. Memory — Quattro Pezzi, No.3 Largo (18 Sep 2020) → Suite Lirica (4-piece set) No.1 Largo elegiaco; presto; largo (21 Apr 2021) → Suite Lirica (7) Op.1b, No.4 Largo elegiaco; andante; largo (15 Feb 2022). E♭m / E m dialectic retained
III. Parable — Suite Lirica (7) Op.1b, No.3 Desolato, tragico; quasi doppio mov.t; placato (15 Feb 2022). C m → B m
Note. Sketches for an unrealised orchestral triptych (a projected “Op.1c” relayout of Suite Lirica in Feb 2022) already anticipate a three-panel design with the same pieces. When, in May 2025, Casaccia fixes the sixteen-prelude architecture of Aspiration to Enfold All (Op.4), he simultaneously confirms a separate destiny for the remaining Suite Lirica movements, which are reserved for the piano triptych. The intensive tonal reconfiguration undertaken for Op.4—his first systematic use of key displacement across inherited materials—appears to provide both the technical model and the immediate stimulus for binding Op.5 into a B-minor–centred cycle in conscious dialogue with the newly ordered prelude set.
Textual history:
– s.1 (Jul 2025): early piano triptych state with working titles: Triptych – Toccata, Elegy, Variations; digital autograph uploaded to IMSLP on 07 Jul 2025; three-movement B-minor cycle already present in final order.
– s.2 (Jan 2026): revised digital autograph; significant notational/engraving/counterpoint clarifications, structural detail adjustments; final authorial text.
Publications:
– Casaccia, Alexandre. Labyrinth, piano triptych (Op.5). Score. Self-published edition, 14 Jan 2026. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17833537; also available on IMSLP (internal ref. number IAC 4). → Reflects s.2
License: © 2026 Alexandre Casaccia. Released under CC BY-SA 4.0.
PROGRAM NOTE
Labyrinth is a three-movement piano cycle in which a language of concentrated lyricism is constructed from an economical yet finely differentiated repertory of materials. At the surface the music appears disarmingly direct—predominantly stepwise melodies, clearly articulated tonal functions, accompanimental figuration in regular rhythms—while the underlying writing remains tightly argued. Throughout, a characteristic dialectic opposes falling, gravitational figures to rising, arpeggiated gestures: a play of lamento and élan vital projected horizontally and vertically in melody, harmony, and texture.
The opening movement, Impulse-Echo, introduces this language within a compact tripartite design derived from sonata-form principles. An introductory span leads to two contrasting thematic areas that stem from the same generative profiles: a descending, ornamented line related to a simple tetrachord (motive B), and a more active, upward-leaning figure often entrusted to the accompaniment in close contrapuntal dialogue with the melody (motive A). A central development (Durchführung) section fragments and redistributes these motives in continuous modulation before a characteristic coda–reprise closes the movement, briefly recalling the slower theme in canon and reinstating the initial texture so as to produce a discreet mirror effect. The central adagio, Memory, offers a single cantabile paragraph governed by a parabolic conception: its main body in E minor (subdominant to the outer movements) is framed by E-flat minor functioning as a tensive dominant region, while a simple descending line sings almost unadorned in long phrases before inverting and rising towards cadence; the tripartite plan—presentation, intensification, reprise—traces a complementary arc of accumulation and release.
The final movement, Parable, adopts a theme-and-variations design and renders the parabolic idea explicit in the profile of its theme: an opening arpeggio, notated as a first-inversion triad with a pronounced upward impulse, is followed by a falling conjunct line that closes the gesture. Five concise variations probe different facets of this contour, variously driving the arpeggiated élan into more extrovert figuration or stretching the descending component across the texture until it emerges as the dominant force. Harmonically, the movement reasserts B minor and functions as a summa in which the work’s underlying trajectory is progressively clarified; taken as a whole, Labyrinth reads as a single coherent curve, three movements offering complementary vantage points on a restricted repertory of diatonic motives continually renewed by harmonic and rhythmic reframing.
SCORE
PERUSAL SCORE available below | SCORE available upon request