Vestiges, mvt. 4

For now, this is my last post on Vestiges, the string quartet I finished writing in January. I am toying with the idea of making further revisions, mostly concerning making the rhythms more interesting, but WHATEVER, this is how the piece stands at this time.

For the music geeks out there, this movement is a near-exact palindrome (after its midpoint, all the notes and most of the rhythms are presented backwards), and it uses its primary motive in a bunch of permutations (inversion, retrograde, in canon, you name it, I did it).

My longer-term goal for the piece is to find a venue for live performance, hopefully a new music festival at some point over the next year.

At any rate, this is the last movement of Vestiges (MIDI realization):

Hope you enjoy it.

In Memoriam Phillip A. Chandler

I interrupt my regular postings of the movements of Vestiges (don't worry, movement 4 is coming in next week's post!) to share with you a piece for two flutes, clarinet, and alto saxophone I wrote several years ago, titled In Memoriam Phillip A. Chandler (1974–2008). This piece is going to be performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. Region VIII Conference to be held in Tacoma, Washington this weekend.

I wrote this piece in memory of a friend who died from complications related to AIDS. Phillip was known in his community of Mount Vernon, Ohio as the man who volunteered at his local soup kitchen. Phillip went out of his way to make all guests feel welcome and added beautiful table settings so the guests could eat their meals with dignity. I only knew Phillip for a few short years before he passed away, and I wished I could have gotten to know him better.

The recording I share with you below is from a concert of new music I presented at Kenyon College in 2010. The performers are Julia DeNiro ’10, flute; Ayako Tokuyama ’11, flute; Robert Milnikel, clarinet; and Evan Axelbaum ’10, alto saxophone.

I look forward to having another opportunity for hearing this piece live.