NOTE

This work was commissioned by the Aurea Silva Trio for their Midwestern performance circuit in the spring of 2014 and for inclusion on their forthcoming studio release. I met their pianist (and secret bassoonist) David Gilliland when working with him on my “Five Pieces” for Saxophone and Piano, and we quickly talked about possible projects for his trio. When David told me that the small (but growing!) repertoire for flute, bassoon, and piano trio tended to be either angry-loud-fast or happy-loud-fast, I thought I would try to explore some new expressive corners: slow-dark-quiet and light-quick-quiet. The piece is a sort of study in threes; three instruments, three movements, each movement featuring one instrument as a soloist, and so forth. The first movement is a sort of macabre waltz, like the French fin-de-siecle had been decomposing in decadence all this time. The second movement is a somber dirge, and it features one of my favorite tunes I’ve written. The final movement is a delicate, precise whirling dervish, like fine clockwork at warp speed.