Hayes Biggs

Violin and Piano

Composer's Note:

Inquieto (attraverso il rumore) was composed at the request of the violinist Rolf Schulte, and is dedicated to him with gratitude. It is a great honor to have the chance to write for a great artist whose work I have admired since arriving in New York as a student many years ago. The work’s premiere took place on March 4, 2015 at the Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, performed by Mr. Schulte and pianist Stephen Gosling.

In Italian, “inquieto” means unquiet or restless, even anxious or uneasy, and “attraverso il rumore” can be translated as “through the noise.” The disquiet I refer to is that of a restless mind, which must work through clatter and clutter to achieve calm. Thanks to my colleague and friend, the composer Paolo Marchettini, for helping me to come up with the right Italian phrase for the title.

A restless mind is a terrible thing to waste, hence this piece, which is in two movements, played without pause. The first begins with an oddball kind of jazz idea, moving gradually into a slow, somewhat siciliana-like tempo. The second is much more driven and somewhat frenetic, until it finally settles into a reminiscence of the slow music from the first movement.