Ensemble Works

Program Note:

“Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells. You are walking through it howsomever. I am, a stride at a time. A very short space of time through very short times of space. Five, six: the Nacheinander. Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible. Open your eyes. No. Jesus! If I fell over a cliff that beetles o’er her base, fell through the Nebeneinander ineluctably! I am getting on nicely in the dark."
— James Joyce, Ulysses (“Proteus")

Taking its starting place from that excerpt of Stephen Dedalus' stream of consciousness, "A very short space of time through very short times of space" is concerned with the development and reflections of musical materials in different sonic spaces that accumulate, rupture, and otherwise transofrm. I am most intersted in volatile and fragile materials that are seemingly contractory. These materials may oppose each other (dense versus sparse, dark versus bright, short versus sustained, etc.) but do not categorically conflict. Instead of seeking resolution, they strive for alchemical transcendence.

James Joyce's poetic prose in Ulysses embraces the inherent volatility of life and moves rapidly from the interior to the exterior, from the sacred to the profane, and from the masculine to the feminine, catching glimpses of everything posible between these extremes. Materials in the piece are, like Stephen Dedalus' thoughts, mutable and constantly decontextualized, fragmented, and recombined.

The piece was composed for Flannau Duo in early 2024 and came to life through collaborative exploration with Jonathan and Kyle at various stages. I hope performers and listeners each find something surprising in this space of time. -- HAB

Media:

Performance History:

• Piano
• Percussion