Collideoscope (2011), for piano quartet

Duration: 9:00

Instrumentation: violin, viola, cello, and piano

I wrote Collideoscope at the request of my friend and frequent collaborator Nicholas Leh Baker. Nicholas had the idea to commission a suite of six paintings from artist Gregory Gummersall, and then to ask six composers to each respond to one of the paintings musically. The commission fee for the composers: we kept the painting. When Nicholas approached me with the idea, I immediately agreed and waited anxiously for the artwork to arrive.

When I first saw the painting, I was struck by the three large blotches of primary colors. Then my eye was drawn towards the looping, calligraphic lines that occupy the midground of the painting. After further examination, I noticed that underlying the entire work was a collage of musical scores. Finally, my eye began to travel between these layers freely, with each visual idea influencing the perception of its adjacent features. I took my cues for the musical form from this process of visual exploration, creating a work with three distinctive ideas that form a tenuous coexistence, with each idea refracting and distorting the music around it.

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First Performance: November 12th, 2011, Scordatura Music Society

 Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, Houston, TX

 Nicholas Leh Baker, violin; Lynsey Anderson, viola; Sophie Benn, cello; John

 Hendrickson, piano

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Recording: July 20th, 2012, Aspen Music Festival 

 Harris Concert Hall, Aspen, CO

 Colin Sorgi, violin; Carrie Frey, viola; Nicholas Mariscal, cello; Daniel Pesca, piano