Performances

Premiered by Yuki Numata Resnick and Dustin Budish, violins; Tiantian Lan, viola; Eileen Brownell, ‘cello, for the Tahoe Chamber Music Society, at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Incline Village, Nevada, on July 1, 2018.

re NEW String Quartet,  September 9, 2021, at CRAFT in Reno, Nevada, and September 12, 2021, at Western Nevada College in Carson City, Nevada.

Program Note

This four movement work is built entirely from fragment of Bon chant collected by a friend of mine in the Upper Dolpo region of Nepal.

In the first movement the individual instruments of the quartet are set against each other, sometimes in alliance with others and sometimes not. The ending takes an abrupt turn into a new realm.

The second movement is a refuge. The music is searching for something hopeful. There is a short quotation from Leos Janacek’s ‘In the Mist’ near the end.

Arising out of a near silence the third movement depicts a ‘dust devil’ (whirlwind).

The last movement reflects some aspects South Indian music, as for example in the particular way that repetition is used to build up the form. Having witnessed a live Katakhali performance on a short trip to the region in the spring, my impressions gave rise to some dramatic ideas. Beginning with an off-beat dance, and unfolding in a rondo-like fashion, this music could very well depict the temptation of a hero by a demon in disguise, the ruse exposed in the final bars when the cello chops off the nose of the antagonist, revealing its true identity.