flute (doubling piccolo) Bb clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) guitar harp percussion (crotales [1 octave], vibraphone, tuned gong [D4], maracas, 2 bongos, bass drum) violin viola cello
3 November 2019, The Music Gallery, Toronto, ON
Continuum Ensemble
I was fortunate in this project to have some latitude in my choice of instrumentation; I was compelled therefore to build an ensemble with an overall transparency of sound (in contrast with some of my recent chamber works), with the plucked-string instruments guitar and harp at its core. Another divergence with regard to my catalogue is the work's form, which I allowed to take shape in piecemeal fashion following a deliberate stretch of creative inactivity that accompanied a period of significant change in my personal circumstances. The result is a concatenation of seven miniatures somewhat symmetrical in its design, with a substantial central movement that is flanked by slow movements functioning as slow quasi-interludes. contiNuance – with a nod towards the commissioning ensemble and the occasion of its premiere – is about an idea that, by virtue of its confrontation with and absorption of other ideas, persists and grows as it passes through time.