viola

Composer's note:  Tathata for string trio was composed during the summer of 2007. It was written for and is dedicated to the Athabasca String Trio who premiered it in October of 2007 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York. The title, from the Pali language, means suchness -- a way of experiencing reality without the barrier of language and concepts.

In one movement of about eleven minutes, Tathata, falls into three large sections, the first beginning with a viola solo accompanied by a tolling A in the violin and cello. This soon grows into three-part counterpoint, but the idea of repeated notes proves to be ubiquitous throughout much of the piece. The middle section, marked Tranquillo, features a long melody in the violin. Near it's end, the music moves to its highest register to lead into the final section marked Con Moto. Featuring the most varied, continuous, and dramatic music of the piece, this section builds inexorably, finally leading to a version of the viola's opening tune, now played in three part unison. The final measures of the piece, again featuring the repeated A, now over a sustained F# in the violin, quietly dissolve into silence.

Composer's note:  Pas de Deux, written for and dedicated to Tawnya Popoff and Carolyn Stinson, is about the interaction of three distinct and continually developing musical characters. The character that gets the least stage time during the piece, consisting of soft furtive legato gestures in the mid-low register, begins and, rather suddenly, ends the piece.

Composer's note: 

This composition was commissioned by the New York Chamber Music Festival for the New York Piano Quartet and is dedicated to the Festival's founder, the extraordinary violinist Elmira Darvarova.  The request for the work was for a short "reflexion" on the Mahler Quartet (1876).  As such, the composition derives its thematic material from one of the main motives of the Mahler, but treats it in an entirely personal manner.  As with most of my chamber music, I am interested here in the composite ensemble working as a single instrument.  I try to make each of the parts the performers perform interesting and expressive, but nonetheless challenging.  My hope is that both the listener and the performer will be intrigued by a glimpse into my imagination, here derived from Mahler, as I work with the sounds and rhythms that comprise my sonic vocabulary.

The fusion of jazz-inspired rhythms and complex harmonies returns in McKinley’s String Quartet No. 5. In some ways the quartet is a continuation of the same types of compositional techniques used in McKinley’s previous quartet. However, this quartet from 2005 coheres more closely as an entire piece, despite the twelve indicated movements. This is due in part to the piece being played attacca, or without any pause between movements. Thus the movements, while distinct, allow listeners to contemplate the quartet as a single journey through McKinley’s sound-scape, rather than as separate episodes. Attention to the overall form of the quartet has taken a higher status than before.