41 minutes
2026

This piece was written for Rob Haskins and Aaron Larget-Caplan. It is a remarkably straightforward work. In the first part, the two instruments play diatonic/diatonic-like harmonies, overlapping, gradually moving upward. The introduction of bass clusters in the piano around the 15-minute mark adds a needed extra element and acts as a simple kind of road marker, indicating that some distance has been traveled and there may be some more way to go. A shorter section (16 minutes, compared to the 25 minutes of the first part)—quite different—follows. The two parts play totally distinct pitches and are essentially chromatic. Gradually, things become increasingly spaced out. In a manner similar to the piano bass clusters in the first part, the guitar harmonics at the end introduce a needed new color.

Something interesting happened while composing this piece, something I’d never experienced before. The piece originally featured a highly contrasting initial idea, about a minute-long, that recurred in slightly altered form several times over the course of the piece. I viewed these elements as structural supports—like columns, undergirding the longer, denser, and more continuous music around them. These passages didn’t completely satisfy me. I attempted to adjust them in various ways, yet they never felt quite right. Ultimately, I “finished” the composition and found that I could simply remove them and was then wholly satisfied with what remained. It was as if this music was the scaffolding I needed to erect in order to work on the piece—which could then come down when the composition was complete.