It's hard to see an explicit connection between Michael Torke's "The Yellow Pages" and the well-known phone book section of the same name, except that they both achieve great diversity through the repetition of certain basic ideas. "The Yellow Pages" is a chamber work, scored for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and piano. It is light, busy music, with dynamic rhythms and a pleasing sunny quality. After a few introductory notes, Torke introduces the only theme of the work, a bustling, major-key phrase. Torke keeps the theme in mind throughout the work; the chords underlying the material vary, and so does the actual statement of the melody, but it is always recognizably similar music. Each of the various instruments has its moments of prominence and silence, and each gets a chance to elaborate on the theme in its own way. Torke augments and diminishes the notes of the theme, elaborates and simplifies it, rephrases and rephrases it. The music moves from key to key often enough that the ear does not suffer fatigue. In the end, perhaps the title refers to the catalog of possibilities for the opening theme that Torke has explored; "The Yellow Pages" seems like a complete compendium of the various modifications the theme could undergo, from A to Z.



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