Duo Fantasia (1991)

Duo Fantasia is dedicated to Professor Luise Vosgerchian, whose mixture of fantasy, discipline and ebullience has shaped the lives of generations of American musicians. Among these are Lynn Chang and Yo-Yo Ma who first performed the piece at a concert given in honor of her retirement from Harvard University in May 1991. In her long teaching career, one of Mme Vosgerchian's most famous lecture-performances was based on the Prélude in A major op. 28 no 7 of Frédéric Chopin. Relating the text of the piece to the music of Getrude Stein's A rose is a rose is a rose..., Luise would enthrall and enthuse all present, striking every listener with an unforgettable - almost Zen-like - experience and leaving them with a key to the realm of musical understanding and communication. I was once one of those privileged listeners, an so I chose the Prélude as the source of the piece that I composed in her tribute. The Duo Fantasia opens with an introduction followed by eleven variatins, until the theme is finally revealed as Chopin's theme transcribed for violin and cello. (Iwan Tcherepnin)