Duration: c. 12.5 minutes

Short Note: I began this piece without any narrative program, and proceeded to write music very particular to me – fast, syncopated, with a groove, what I later came to think of as “digging music.” As early as measure 8, though, there is a hint of other music – a falling fifths type progression powered by the bass, that very much brought to mind the opening fugue of Beethoven’s c# minor string quartet, op. 131. This figure plays an important role in the first section. The slow middle section ultimately gives way to a direct quotation of the Beethoven quartet, whose material then begins to coexist and interfere with the original material, which attempts to return for a recapitulation. Late in the piece, another piece of found music enters (at W), a section of my opera, The Summer King, which I completed in 2011.

The narrative that emerged is the idea of delving – of digging into myself, finding the music that is most personal and dear to me, and moving even beyond that and finding my original music. I studied opus 131 with Joan Tower at Bard College, a quarter of a century ago, when my very first pieces were being read regularly by the Da Capo Chamber Players. Somehow it seemed fitting that it’s role in my musical life came to the fore in the working out of this new piece for Da Capo. The opera quotation is, perhaps, a celebration of the road I’ve traversed since those days.