gyre…tone a work for multi-track bass trombone and video

(2024)

gyre - - - tone is a fixed media/video piece for bass trombone and fixed media. It was created for the Curtis Institute of Music’s 100th Anniversary celebration, as part of a series of small commissions by former graduates of the school, where I was a double major in composition and viola. This version of gyre - - - tone is quite simple, expansive, inexorable and deliberate; there is nothing flashy about either the music or the affect. I think back to when I was a student at Curtis 36 years ago and how ridiculously young and naïve I was; everything seemed so flashy and impressive to me. All these years later, I think how this is a piece that I certainly could not have written back then, but also would not have wanted to even if I knew how or what it could be. The gyre of life – those long, slow currents that carry us – and the tones inside – the faster, compact, circular movements that carry us along the chapters of life – they are all caught in a flow that cannot be denied, and their destination cannot be known. I am grateful to bass trombonist Blair Bollinger for his artistry and contribution to this project, and to Nick DiBerardino for kindly including me in the celebration. The extraordinary video was created by artist Marie Lorenz.

• Video

• Score on ISSUU

• Soundcloud

• Vimeo