Category: Composition

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String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 5

String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 5 (2014)

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Andante quasi Adagio
III. Menuetto–Trio
IV. Adagio lamentoso–Allegro

My second string quartet was completed in the winter of 2014. In this piece I tried to rein in the scope and complexity of the musical forms, striving for a sense unity and inevitability. The first movement is at times austere, at times warm and genial. The slow movement is a group of variations on a tender, sighing theme. The third movement is a boisterous minuet with a serene and peaceful trio. The final movement is prefaced by a slow lament, which stands in sharp contrast with with playful exuberance of the ensuing allegro. Just before the end, the lament briefly returns, but playfulness gets the last word. The quartet was premiered at my recital at the Chapel of the Venerable Bede, Miami.

String Quartet no 2 complete
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Piano Sonata No. 1 in A flat Major Op. 4

Piano Sonata No. 1 in A flat Major Op. 4 (2013)

I. Allegro piacevole
II. Adagio
III. Allegro piacevole

My first piano sonata was completed in the winter of early 2013 for my friend at the University of Chicago, Nathan Harris. The piece is suffused with a kind of warm, tender lyricism. This is the first piece I wrote where I thought more of motives and phrases and less of themes or melodies. The first and last movements are both marked “Allegro piacevole,” fast and pleasantly. While the first movement is more boisterous and dramatic, the last is more like a rustic dance alla Beethoven. The lyrical slow movement, with its long arching melodies, is characterized by tender yearning and melancholy.

Piano Sonata no 1 in Ab