Parallels (2014) for string quartet
Commissioned by the Barnes Foundation for the Aizuri Quartet

Program Notes:
This piece is dedicated to the artist William Glackens, the life and work of whom I have found deeply inspiring. Upon delving into writings on his development as an artist, I was struck by the number of parallels and similarities to themes in my own life. A Philadelphia native, Glackens spent much of his artistic and professional life between New York and Paris, two cities that have had profound influences on me and the two cities I consider to be at the core of my artistic inspiration. I was also particularly taken by Glackens’ depictions of the crowded streets and parks of Manhattan. The idea of “the crowd,” a personal interest first sparked by the poetry of Baudelaire, is an element that, whether consciously or subconsciously, weaves its way into the majority of my work and is certainly present in “Parallels." This quartet focuses on and is rooted in one motive: its journeys, transformations, and the filters in which we experience it. The opening musical idea allows itself to be spun through variation after variation, a tribute to the variety of styles that Glackens explored throughout his own life, and much like the transformations and creative manipulations in which an artist can indulge while immersed in “The Crowd.”

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