Triple Concerto

‘When the title of a work of art reflects the work’s essence, the title becomes a symbol, i.e. the distillation of the meanings contained in its depth. So while I was composing this work, the word ‘Triple Concerto’ [‘Tripelkonzert’] became for me such a symbol, a symbol for the number three, of ‘three-ness’. This is reflected not only in the number of performers—there are three soloists standing in front of the orchestra but also in the tripartite structure of the form and in the use of simple triads in the texture of the piece.
However, most essential is the meaning of the three basic melodic-chordal structures, which are closely linked with the three most important qualities of the sound material: the force of intervallic attraction, the force of intervallic repulsion, and the force generating this contrast.
Thus the tree of the overtone series grows, as it were, out of the cluster sounding from the bayan, which represents the essence, the nature of sound. And in it we notice a gradual contraction of the intervals between the respective partials. The force of attraction of the neighboring partials increases as we gradually move from the first overtone to the following partials. This is the initium of the work, to which the remaining texture reacts. At the very end a chord forms a response that consists of slowly enlarging intervals. In this way the piece could be regarded as a revelation of three forces: the expansion of widening intervals, the contraction of narrowing intervals, and—the reaction to this cosmological drama.” (Sofia Gubaidulina)