Trio for Flute and Two Violins

Trio for flute and two violins

Full Orchestra
String Orchestra
Wind Ensemble
Vocal
Chamber
Solo Instrumental

This work was composed in 2004 for a few of my friends. This six-movement work was written as an exploration of various modes of harmony and expression. The opening fanfare is stately and march-like, triumphantly introducing the unusual instrumentation of flute and two violins. The second movement is the first of two interludes. It is more distant and introspective, wandering aimlessly through surprising harmonies as the melodies are passed around between the trio in a web of counterpoint. Following the interlude is a quick and jaunty movement, "Flight." I have always been fascinated with capturing the excitement of flying in my music, and this movement does so as a 'moto perpetuo,' with a constant unbroken stream of notes acting like the wind rushing past your face. The fourth movement is a second interlude, this time even more distant and introspective. Slow and at times somber, this movement finds its intensity in dissonant and unresolved harmonies. It leads directly into the fifth movement, "Barcarolle," a lilting song built over an ostinato pattern that is passed around the ensemble. The final movement's title, "Spider-Man," arises from an inside joke between me and the friends for whom I wrote this work. The music imitates a scene from one of the recent Spiderman movies where a street musician plucks a violin repetitively while singing the original Spider-Man theme music. Opening with a simple repeated plucked D in the second violin, the activity livens incrementally as the rest of the ensemble gradually increases the rhythmic variety, excitedly speeding towards the end.

Premiered June 19, 2008 at the Sarasota Music Festival by flutist Erica Chung and violinists David Radzynski and Zoë Martin-Doike in Holley Hall in Sarasota, FL. Two movements were omitted (Interlude I and Barcarolle).

Fanfare
Interlude I
Flight
Interlude II
Barcarolle
Spiderman