The Devil of Symmetry

Notes

This piece is one of the three fortepiano studies based on Jorge Luis Borges’ creatures from his faux-medieval bestiary The Book of Imaginary Beings. This piece echoes Haydn’s Menuetto al Rovescio from the Piano Sonata H. XVI:26, where both the Minuet and the Trio are played until their half way points, then continue exactly backwards. In The Devil of Symmetry a further step is taken: not only is every phrase and gesture played forward and backwards, the two hands of the fortepianist also mirror each other to a greater or lesser extent throughout. The keyboardist is encouraged to use identical fingerings for each hand in the ‘mirrored’ material. The symmetry is gradually distorted, like an ancient bronze Tao Tie, rusted and no longer so symmetrical.