True North

Written in 2020 for violin, percussion, piano (2 minutes)

It is an extremely rare day where I will write something specifically for a call or a competition that I find on the Internet. However, that's where this piece comes from: I don’t recall where I found this, but the Kompass Ensemble (which I believe are now defunct?) posted a call for pieces 2 minutes or less.

More than anything that just felt like a really interesting challenge. As you might be able to tell from the rest of my catalog, not many of my pieces are much shorter than 8 minutes, and I really strive when we're pushing the 20-minute range (or at least I certainly feel that way!). So, a piece like this is a challenge for me, and in the middle of COVID, with the opportunity for something like a live stream concert and a good quality recording by a good group of performers… it's hard to turn down an opportunity to do something like that even if it will be a challenge, even if it will be outside of your comfort zone.

I certainly consider this piece a complete artistic statement, even if it is extremely brief, perhaps fragmentary, or even marginalia or ephemera. it is a single utterance. A single statement - not trying to be a distilled essence of anything, but more so a natural concision, or just a brief statement on the condition of my work at the time.