towards tapered illusions - for alto flute and double bass
towards tapered illusions was written in collaboration with choreographer Brian Enos as part of a “New Music/New Dance,” a collaboration between the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition and DanceWorks Chicago. This piece also relates to my preoccupation at the time with Norman Lewis’ Composition in Blue and Black, where these sharp gestural lines emerge from these hazy clouds. I felt this dichotomy would transfer well into the dance domain, and so I created sections of sharper, percussive, and rhythmic materials which juxtapose with phrases of still, prolonged melodic lines. The double bass has the A string tuned down one-quarter-flat, which allows for a uniquely beautiful array of overtones and harmonics to arise in these withheld sections. My heartfelt thanks to Julie Nakagawa and Brian Enos for their work to make the dance come to life.