Duration: 15:10

Either/Or (Meighan Stoops, clarinet; Alex Waterman, cello; Stephen Gosling, piano)

Commissioned by Ronald Jacquart and Michael McCarthy for Present Music. Premiered at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 21, 2009, with support from Meet the Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts

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20 (or so) Variations is a piece about obsolescence. Technology offers many benefits to our society, but constant progress also leaves behind a trail of disposable and useless products. Scored for clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics, 20 (or so) Variations consists of short, modular variations within a flexible and adaptable framework that can be modified according to the resources of any performance. For example, some of the variations are for solo piano, and can be performed alone as a suite. Many of the variations do not employ electronics, and can be strung together for an "unplugged" performance of 20 (or so) Variations if the technological resources for electronic playback are not available. Finally, those variations employing electronics can be "upgraded" by revising the electronic component while preserving musically salient features, which often function motivically or as tempo cues to the musicians and are conventionally notated in the score. During a performance that includes solo piano variations, acoustic variations, and electroacoustic variations, these computerized features often correct the distorted tempi of the musicians performing alone, so while 20 (or so) Variations can exist without electricity, it can also benefit from the infallibility of computerized processes.