Epitaphic Forms   (2010)

Flute, Oboe, Violin, Cello, 2 Guitars

Composed for the Cygnus Ensemble

Premiered at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, May 2010

Program Note

Epitaphic Forms unfolds as a series of episodes utilizing different subsets of the full ensemble, each having something of the character of an inscription, or elegy, based upon a very circumscribed amount of material that is repeated and varied in subtle ways. The episodes cycle and return as transformed versions of themselves, and the gradual rising and subsequent falling of intensity is suggestive of a traditional dramatic arc; the work blossoms into something approaching lyricism at times, yet ultimately is redrawn near its end into the highly confined sound-world established in the opening minutes.