Summer 2019 Projects and Previews
This summer, I composed three pieces for chamber ensembles: a string quartet; a saxophone and clarinet duet; and a clarinet and piano duet. Although none of the pieces are recorded yet, you can listen to a computer playback of each one to get a taste for what the piece will be like!
Quartet for the Anthropocene, Mvmt 1, for String Quartet (July 2019)
This piece documents the experience of growing up in a global ecosystem dominated by human activity when the effects of that domination are not acknowledged. It expresses the immediacy of the situation, the cynical humor needed to survive a ridiculous political situation, and the dark fate that awaits inaction.
The Autobiography of Rumbly, Cat, for alto sax and clarinet (July 2019)
On a lighter note, this comic duet explores the gestural language and moods of cats through increasingly nonsensical development of motivic and harmonic material. It was commissioned by Jessica Rose Dodge and Anthony Aguayo of the Chyornii e Dorado duo and will be coming out on their first album later this year!
The inspiration for this piece was my housemate’s cat, Rumbly, who always makes me laugh and remember to stay playful. The opening motive was inspired by her favorite hobby: running up and down the stairs as fast as she can.
Moonlight, for clarinet and piano (August 2019)
This duet was commissioned by Anthony Aguayo for the upcoming Chyornii e Dorado album. The piece, harmonically rich, lyrical, with an ephemeral and portentous feel, is definitely one of the heftier pieces I have composed lately, both in length and density. Even a few minutes feels like a bigger work than it is. It’s a study in contemporary harmony and musical rhetoric, where each phrase feels like it’s hovering on the border of having some urgent and specific meaning that slips away. Here’s an excerpt towards the beginning.