heavy in air [2020]

alto flute & cello [11’]

commissioned by the Boston Conservatory at Berklee Chamber Series.

written for Sarah Brady & Rhonda Rider

performance history

1/27/2023 - Sarah Brady & Rhonda Rider. Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Boston, MA

9/18/2020 - Sarah Brady & Rhonda Rider. Boston Conservatory Chamber Series [online event]. Boston, MA

program note

In this duo for alto flute and cello, nearly every gesture is modeled after the act of breathing, with one instrument inhaling and the other answering it in exhale. The instruments are at nearly every measure acting as a unit, shaping different parts of the musical phrase jointly in response to each other. Throughout the piece, pitch material is veiled behind greater or lesser fields of white noise produced largely by breathy multiphonic dyads in the flute and natural harmonics in the cello. I approached this piece as a tender and vulnerable celebration of collaborative music making: each delicate sound to be cared for, and each musical phrase is a joint utterance.