Tonal - Contrapuntist: One Composer's Credo
… What the sensitive ear can follow, so can the mind accept,
and the soul be moved and enlarged.
No hierarchy of triadically anchored keys, no major/minor scales, no
primary chords or modalities, no textures or colors or rhythms devoid of
tonal direction. Just a central tone — one above all others as point of
departure and destination, that most primitive and durable of sonic
obsessions. Working out a mesh of voices as expressive and lucid as
heart and head, inspiration and craft can fashion.
This is the crux of my music since the epiphany of my first mature
composition, String Quartet No.1 (1997-2000), completed at the late
age of fifty-three. Since then my direction has remained unchanged,
affirming over and over a conviction that the most substantial music
speaks a contrapuntal language whose intellectual satisfaction is
indistinguishable from its emotive power.
In effect highly focused essays of discovery, my every work follows its
own trajectory defined in the making, resolutely tapping its cane to a
centric goal the listener, player (and above all I) must listen for.
Louis Pelosi
January, 2016