flute (dbl. picc.), cello, and piano
7 minutes
2002

Like Three Short Movements for Orchestra (1997) and Three (1999)—and itself, coincidentally, rather interested in the number three—this composition is a study in miniatures. At the time of composition, I was also rather interested in the multi-layered, multi-movement structure: at the most basic level, five movements comprising a straightforward linear progression; on another level, two interpenetrating strands consisting of the Prelude and the Romance on the one hand and the three numbered movements on the other. Also like Three, Schoenbergian elements can be discerned in the opening movement. The first numbered movement is simply floating, the second, a straightforward recitative. The Romance is an unblushing tribute to Messiaen; the third numbered movement is still (that is, essentially unmoving).