Rift

Listen

Look

Instrumentation

Fl (pic), Ob (eh), Cl (bcl), Bsn (cbn), A sax (bari) / Hn, Tpt, Tbn, Tba /1 perc, pno (cel), hp / strings 2.1.1.1

Completion

March 2015

Brighton, MA

Duration

10 mins

Premiere

April 17th, 2015

Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta,

Ipswich 106

Eric Hewitt, conductor

Awards

2014-Winner of the Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta Composition Competition

Performances

February 9th, 2018

Boston Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble

David Vess, conductor

About

Rift is the first piece where I was able to meld my interests of form, harmony, and sheer sound. The piece opens with a tense, timbral oriented A section that is comprised of an obsession of breath tones and G# and A pedals. Its more harmonic answer in the B section, extends every time it appears, increasing in size until breaking. After the introduction, the music begins to work in a more episodic fashion that always ends with the return of glowing peak of the B section. The rift is finally breached when the peak extends into an entire new section of music, featuring floating themes and tuba multiphonics. This dreamy world becomes distorted, erupting into angry outburst with collected fragments and warnings from earlier episodes. The distortion fizzles out and we return to a place very much like the opening, as if we hadn't traveled at all. This piece was written for Eric Hewitt and the Boco Sinfonietta. I was very privileged to be able to collaborate with an ensemble comprised of many of my favorite musicians that I regularly work with, including Andrew van der Paardt, Charlie Larson, Sophie Kass, Phillip Kandel, Kevin Natoli, Josh Urlik, and Mark Haygood. I was also very excited to be able to play in the ensemble. This recording is from the live premiere at Boco, April 17th 2015. Rift was the winner of the 2014-15 Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta Composition Competition.