In Flow (2006)
For solo violin, 7 minutes
The premiere of this work was on April 7, 2006 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City, performed by Andrea Schultz. In Flow was composed in 2005 in Dar es Salaam and 2006 in Oberlech and New York City.
Score published by and available from PSNY.
Program Note:
“in flow”, the opening work of my hour long Flow Cycle for Strings, explores gradual shifts in color and expressivity in a constantly moving and evolving musical thread. The music contains an equal emphasis on both long, evolving gestures and the local push-pull of motifs. This piece was written for Andrea Schultz, to whom it is dedicated.
“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.
Also part of Friction for violin and dancer with New Chamber Ballet.