(click on the title links below to hear a recording)
A small collection of pieces written in 1997 and 1998. Only two of them use all six instruments. They do not need to be programmed together or played in any particular order.
Chaos, written for the full ensemble, is my Elliott Carter pastiche—I wrote it after analyzing his song Anaphora. It is bright and dense, with a constant flux based on the interplay of a large-scale, three-part polyrhythm with a ratio of 27:25:20. The debt to Carter is easy to hear (and easy to see in the rhythmic complexity of the score) but it still ends up sounding like my music, not his.
Also for the full ensemble but featuring bass clarinet and percussion, The Bounce is based on an elaborate and playful rhythmic interplay between the instruments.
I was thinking about a mother trying to put her baby to sleep on a hot summer day when I wrote the Lullaby (violin, piano, and glockenspeil), imagining the wind blowing chimes quietly in the background, with an occasional gust raising some anxiety about whether baby will stay asleep.
Hummingbirds (flute and violin) is dedicated to Chinese-American composer Chen Yi. I met her at a composer's conference at Cal State Fullerton in 1998 and for the lunch break on our first day I walked her from our conference room to the residence hall. Along the way I pointed out some hummingbirds and Chen Yi was very excited—it was the first time she had seen them. The composition is both an attempt to capture the virtuosic flitting of the hummingbirds and to pay tribute to Chen Yi's wonderful enthusiasm and energy.
Suspended Animation (vibraphone and marimba) is a free-floating meditation on the distinct ringing qualities of the two instruments.
Piano Alone is a short and playful but difficult piece that grew out of the motoric, swirling melody it starts with. The driving, hammering rhythms of the first part dissolve into a dream-like sheen at the end.