multiple keyboards

versions available for Piano 4 hands or for 2 pianos

“Split Infinitives, for two pianos, written during the fall of 2010, was commissioned by the New Music @ECU Festival. The piece is dedicated to Yukiko and Keiko Sekino for whom it was composed. Lasting about thirteen minutes, the piece is in one movement consisting of three large sections. The first section is fast and mercurial, it’s ideas often interrupted -- the musical surface and continuity often quite jagged. The second section, much slower and vastly more static, serves as a strong contrast to the first. It begins with a very long trill on B-flat below middle C – the longest trill I’ve ever written…or am likely to write( at least in a chamber music composition! ) A long melody gradually unfolds over this trill and the accompaniment gradually morphs into an ostinato. The intensity of the middle section ebbs and flow, but toward its end, the temperature gradually rises leading directly to the third section. This section incorporate elements of both the preceding section – the discontinuity and fast pace of the first section and the harmonic language of the second. 

Condensed Score

6 nocturnes for 2 pianos, based on 6 Japanese haiku, each of which alludes to the evening or night. The entire set is to a large extent focused on sound color achieved through articulation, figuration, and pedal technics, as well as some performing directly on the strings. There are many moments of rhythmic complexity, and ensemble between the pianists can be challenging. For advanced performers only.

This work was commissioned by MTNA for their 2002 national competition. Two movements: the Fantasy, which is heroic (at times, frenzied) in nature, and the Fugue, whose somber tones steal forward at a mysterious pace. Both movements contain motivic quotations of Béla Bartók.