fractures (2019)
Horn in F, Clarinet in Bb (+Bass), Bassoon, 2 Violins, Viola, Piano
Duration: 9’
Premiered by Gregory Lewis, Jacob Schafer (violins), Bethany Hargreaves (viola), Yu-Ting Cheng (clarinets), Scott Leger (horn), Andy Sledge (bassoon), Yifei Xu (piano), Julian Pellicano (conductor) at Norfolk Music Festival - New Music Workshop, June 28th, 2019
program note
fractures is based around a series of quotations from and allusions to Janáček’s Concertino. The first part of fractures directly quotes and alludes to the horn-piano duo from the first movement of Concertino and briefly quotes the finale from the fourth movement. The second part alludes to the clarinet-piano duo from the second movement of Concertino and quotes the clarinet melody from the third movement. The act of fracturing pervades the piece: the fraying of vertically aligning rhythms, the severance between the past and present (through the use of quotation, allusion, and interruption), and the extreme rift between extremely saturated and dense music and delicate, gentle, melodic music.