ENS.2014.3 | 10′
Violin, Piano
I. Con moto
II. Meno mosso
Performed by Rachel Lee Priday (violin) and David Kaplan (piano)
In much of my music, harmonic, rhythmic, and textural material are composed separately; over the course of a given work they are then permuted and combined. The interplay of these various elements allows me to create a strict formal structure and overall dramatic narrative while allowing me to freely indulge my musical imagination.
My Violin Sonata uses this approach in an unusual manner. There are two movements: Con moto (with motion), and Meno Mosso (less motion). At first they appear similar, almost identical. But in fact they are different. By changing only one or two aspects of the underlying musical material my sonata interrogates how we hear a piece of music. How we heard the first movement colors our apprehension of the second, and the second movement retrospectively alters our memory of the first. The effect is like seeing a landscape anew from a fresh angle, or stumbling upon something familiar in an unfamiliar context.