A life in plaid, begun anew (2007)

Duration: ca. 15′
Instrumentation: Two violins and viola
Composed for Lauren Holder
Score

A life in plaid, begun anew was composed in the summer of 2007 as a wedding gift for my friend Lauren Holder, a violinist I met at the University of Florida. The title refers to her love for plaid as well as the new life she was starting with her husband Brian.

The piece is structured in three movements. The first, “Prelude, for a time of changes”, is a conversation between the three instruments, at times dominated by the melody of a single instrument and at others in tight oscillating polyrhythms. The second, “Elegy, for a time past”, is in a palindromic structure in which the intervals of the second half are inverted. The final movement, “Joy-dance, for a time beginning”, is a quick and lively dance written in a rondeau form and opening with a contrasting compound meter melody in the first violin accompanied by a 7/16 rhythmic ostinato in the other strings.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

March 2008 – Gainesville, FL (world premiere)
Lauren Holder, Risa Iguchi, violins; Kristen Brandt, viola