top of page

Message

Instrumentation | solo violin

Year | 2022

Duration | 2'

Premiere | commissioned for Movses Pogossian with the generous support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting

Note | Message for solo violin draws inspirations from visual shapes, vibrato, and impulsivity, elements that are important to my writing as well as in Kurtág’s compositional philosophies. The musical material for this piece was developed from my imagination of what shapes a message looks like: waves and squiggly lines that are endless and uncontrollable. My use of vibrato reflects the expressive, unpredictable, and transformative nature of message. When someone sends a message, it is up to the recipient to interpret it. Because of this, a message inevitably transforms. It may go through so many recipients who then become senders that at the end of this journey, a message may look nothing like what it once was. I let this piece develop the way it wants to, drawing from my unconscious rather than planning out the rate of change and different expressions. The end result lends itself naturally to mystery, impulsivity, and is up to the interpretation of the performer and audience.

bottom of page