Chamber Music

COLLAGE was composed between January and May of 2005. It is cast in two movements, the first a mystical slow movement, and the second a driving finale. The title refers to two sets of piano pieces that I composed in 2000 and 2003 called “Snapshots”. The “Snapshots” are short character pieces that present an idea, but do not significantly develop it. I always intended the “Snapshots” to be a sort of laboratory or sketchbook from which I would draw ideas to be developed into extended works. Although that was my intention with COLLAGE, I ended up only borrowing a few measures from my “Snapshots”, with the rest of the work being newly composed. However, I did retain the title, as well as the overall idea of the juxtaposition and synthesis of various ideas in contrasting styles.

Intimate Voices was composed in the summer and early fall of 2015 for the Lyris Quartet as part of their “Intimate Letters” project. The project involved their recording of Janacek’s String Quartet No. 2 (Intimate Letters) as well as works by four commissioned composers responding to the Janacek in some way. I have always been struck by how little Janacek’s work corresponds with my conception of intimacy. I decided my work would explore my own notion of intimacy. In it, I exploit the gentle side of the string quartet – muted sonorities, quiet dynamics, delicate gestures – with ideas unfolding gradually and organically in a single formal arc.

Although the mood of Intimate Voices contrasts strongly with that of the Janacek, its materials all owe their genesis to two prominent themes from Intimate Letters. The passionate opening theme of the first movement appears transformed into a searching melody that first appears nearly halfway through the work and becomes the principal melodic idea for Intimate Voices. But the core of the work comes from the eerie melody introduced by the viola about ten seconds into the first movement of Intimate Letters. The first four notes of this theme – G-C-F#-D – become the harmonic and melodic palette from which the entirety of Intimate Voices evolves.

String Quartet No. 2 (Three California Landscapes) was composed during the spring of 2008 for the Ying Quartet. The movement titles were appended after the composition of the work and are intended as reflections of the work rather than as indications of the inspiration behind it. The imagery in the titles evokes impressions from my childhood, as well as the varied topography of my home state of California. Kern River was the location of a school camping trip that included white-water kayaking and rafting. The music evokes the bustling of the river and the gliding between rapids. Joshua Tree is the well-known desert park that was similarly the site of a school camping trip. The music suggests the stillness and fantasy of the desert night. Newport Beach was the site of several summer vacations, the highlight of which (at least at a certain age) was the boardwalk (known as the “fun zone”), complete with carnival rides and video arcades. This work was made possible by a generous grant from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.

In the summer of 1996, I visited the Musee Rodin in Paris. I was struck by the contrast between the idyllic garden and the misshapen, deformed sculptures strewn about. It struck me as an intriguing idea for a piece, though one that lay dormant until perhaps emerging in this piece. (012) – (01234) brings together diverse elements of my musical language – austere, sparse textures; timbral exploration; stasis; dense, resonant harmonies; evocations of American popular music – and attempts to map them onto a new (for me) ensemble.