Variations Between the Creases is a set of four variations on a faux-chorale theme. Diatonic modes and triads figure prominently into the harmonic language, but throughout the piece these artifacts are denatured by specifics of instrumental playing technique. At the opening, the instruments play in their highest registers, making the bright, open sonorities sound strained. The story of the piece is a long descent, from the stratospheric glint of the high piano chords, to the subterranean rumble of
the closing viola solo.