Flow Trio "á cause du soleil (2009)
For violin viola and cello, 12 minutes
First performed by Either/Or: Jennifer Choi, violin, Dov Scheindlin, viola, Alex Waterman, cello at Merkin Hall NYC on March 26, 2009. First recorded by Kuan Chung Lu, Dov Scheindlin and Eric Bartlett for New World Records.
Score published by and available from PSNY.
Program Note:
The Flow Trio "á cause du soleil" is the culminating work of the hour long Flow Cycle for Strings.
"á cause du soleil" Flow Trio expands my interest in creating musical 'flow' from Islamic mosaic art by incorporating a larger narrative set in North Africa. "á cause du soleil" refers to Albert Camus' L'Étranger, the pithy justification given for protagonist Meursault's impulsive action which unleashes a series of unforeseen consequences. Although absurdist by design, Camus' linearity of thought in this work helped reconfigure the 'flow' as a final common pathway for the three instruments as a unified meta-instrument, where the range of tenuous and tenacious sounds and melodies introduced throughout the Cycle synthesize and deconstruct in the finale.
“quietly virtuosic and addictive”
The Wire UK
“Constructed as free fantasies, where moment-to-moment activity takes precedence over organizational unity, they articulate small details with energetic gestures - jolting, swooping, lilting rhythms; irregular phrase lengths and unexpected accents; string harmonics, bristling pizzicati, exaggerated bowing, and other tonal/textural effects.
But there is also an ever-present clarity of line and dramatic continuity that help the music sound subtly familiar and vigorously new at the same time."
- Fanfare Magazine
The Flow Cycle is influenced by Islamic Mosaics, Gnawa music of Morocco, Albert Camus' L'Étranger, and the Flow concept of Csíkszentmihályi. While the first work "in flow" for solo violin uses an expansive linear approach to compose 'flow' of unrelated materials, each subsequent work (Shadow Flow for viola, Moroccan Flow (unfolding from unity) for 'cello, Duo Flow for violin and 'cello, and "à cause du soleil" Flow Trio for String Trio) uses a sectional approach to create a mosaic-like experience of flow that is reflected in each of the works, which can be performed separately.