Piano Song (I am a Dangerous Woman) (1983)

Piano Song (I Am a Dangerous Woman) was first intended to include the pianist's singing of Joan Cavanagh's fierce anti-war poem. The result, I decided, was unmanageable. The voice line was then incorporated into the piano music which now makes up the piece. (The poem may be read before the music.) At first the music is declamatory, in near monophonic lines, then chords, continually interrupted by flourishes, some very rapid, others less so and more clearly articulated. Then a second larger section, drawing on the preceding material, consists of contrapuntal writing, bringing threads together, so to speak, in a calming effort.