'Weave' for string trio (Original composition)

Weave, for string trio, is formed of three solo pieces: Weft for violin solo, Shuttle for viola solo, and Warp for cello solo, each composed using a common structural and metrical grid, so that they may be performed simultaneously. The trio is not only a profusion of solos, but also a unified work of chamber music, with the three instrumental actors in genuine conversation. The unique challenge of this project has been to make each piece simultaneously function as a convincing solo narrative, and as one component of the larger trio.; The large-scale process of the trio is a movement from independent characterizations of the instruments to a recognition of their shared aspects and materials. Each instrumental part enacts this movement in a different way. The cello is the static, even obdurate, voice of the trio, playing almost continuously throughout. The repetitive figures which open its solo only eventually prove to have a developmental character. The violin is the disruptive element, its outbursts able to reorient the cello part towards new materials. Mercurial and forceful, it gradually constructs a sustained kind of music from its initial array of kaleidoscopic gestures. The viola functions in the trio as mediator, tying the violin and cello lines together. Its internal narrative is one of oscillation, swinging between the polar attractions of the other two instruments. As the instrument most concerned with the synthetic aspect of the formal process, and most subjugated to the needs of the other lines, it only flowers fully toward the end of the trio, marking the conclusion of the work.