As I near the end of my last semester of my masters at NYU I have been very busy composing and have a lot of exciting premieres. I am grateful to share this program with so many wonderful friends and colleagues. Here is my new chamber orchestra pieces for the NYU Contemporary Ensemble, retracing a path. The piece is based on a long series of chords, which I composed first at the piano, and then fleshed out with orchestration. These chords are made using particular rules that govern how many notes they have, and what type of intervals they are made of (whether they stack thirds, or fourths, for instance). These are color-coded in my initial sketch shown here. These constraints are designed to make the chords feel like they are always shifting colors.

The name comes from the fact that we are allowed to move both forwards and backwards through the progression. When the chords begin to “rewind” we often change to a much faster texture, like rewinding a tape, before proceeding further down the path. These faster sections are distinct by staccato synchronized chords, as opposed to the lush and slower textures that otherwise dominate. I have been enjoying composing using these made up systems that are designed to give a piece a certain feeling, then setting them in motion and seeing how they work!