Symbionts (2015)

For violin & viola, challenging. $20, including score, parts, and demo disk; order here. A symbiont is any organism involved in a symbiotic relationship. In mutualistic symbioses such as the combination of fungus and algae in lichens, the honeybee and the clover it pollinates, or the clownfish and the anemone, the two organisms have evolved to the point that one can scarcely survive without the special services of the other. Here, the violin and viola sound closely related parts, often imitative and in the same general range, neither complete without the other. The degree of importance of the parts is equal and balanced throughout. There is a symmetry to the whole: movements I. and V. are different takes on the same material, as are movements II. and IV. Movement III. is unique - the one in which the two instruments combine to sound a single voice. About 22 minutes total.