Trivium
About this Piece
Trivium (1976), a three-part organ composition, is named after three of the seven liberal arts in Medieval education (grammar, logic, and rhetoric). Although the three parts are made distinct by loudness and registration, as well as more dissonance in the middle section, it remains in D minor and in the same tempo. By pairing the harmonies into an unrelentingly repeated rhythmic idea, single pulses follow longer (or sometimes equal) durations throughout.