New Examples of Confusion (2022)
13 player version:
16 minutes
flute (piccolo), oboe, clarinet (bass clarinet), alto sax (bari sax), horn, 2 perc, piano, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello
Premiere:
March 2022 - Grossman Ensemble, Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL, Tim Weiss, conductor
Commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition
23 player version:
16 minutes
flute (piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, 2 perc, piano, harp, 3.3.3.3.1
Premiere:
planned for December 2022 - Oberlin New Music Ensemble, Tim Weiss, conductor
Commissioned by the Oberlin Conservatory
PROGRAM NOTE
New Examples of Confusion borrows its title from a sequence of very short stories by Lydia Davis called “Examples of Confusion.” Davis’s stories are remarkable for their concision: every sentence is integral to the whole, and every word is precisely chosen and placed. Her observations about the world are frequently quizzical, often ironic, and unexpectedly poignant. I emulate these qualities in this piece.
The work is in five sections, each of which is tightly framed and strongly characterized. Different contingents of the ensemble dominate the texture in each section: for instance, the alternately nervous and playful wind solos of the first section give way to the weighty, lugubrious string chords of the second section. The five sections follow each other without break, joining together to form a single continuous arc. The high point of this arc is the swirling, fragmented fourth section. The broad, lyrical last section is like an epilogue.
I am honored to be the first member of the Grossman Ensemble to write for the group. My years playing alongside the musicians of the ensemble informed every stage of my writing process. I designed the structure to spotlight individual musicians, and I imagined each individual’s way of playing and personality as I shaped their part. The way these parts come together and converse is a reflection of our working process as an ensemble, and the work is thus a celebration of friendship and collaborative art-making.