Commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble

Program Note

Cast in a single movement lasting approximately thirteen minutes, Labyrinth falls into a four-part structure. As the title suggests, someone gets caught in a maze….possibly the audience, players, conductor, or all of the above. In my sketches, I refer to the trapped entity as the 'searcher.' The searcher and the labyrinth each have their own musical ideas. This is most clear during the first section, where the pulsating and repetitive music of the labyrinth lures the more melodic searcher music into a trap. The second section finds our searcher exploring the labyrinth, looking for an escape with increasing exasperation. From this point on, the ideas are very much intertwined. The musical labyrinth is comprised of many abrupt changes of texture, meter, and tempo. The third section begins when the searcher reaches a peak of frustration and the ensemble bursts into frantic octaves. Gradually, the texture thins out - our searcher calms down and gains a degree of determination with which to start the final section. This begins with ideas hinted at earlier, which are developed, building to a head, until, with a final flurry, our searcher escapes the labyrinth (I think...).

Perusal Score