Iris

The root of this piece is the distinctive instrumentation of NOISE (as it was in 2002). The open strings of the guitar and cello, which in their standard tunings overlap and interconnect to create a single chord through which and from which the piece expands, like the iris of one’s eye. Though the instruments all have great expressive possibility, their common denominator to me lies in the realm of the delicate and impressionistic. In this realm, the sounds are almost indistinguishable: the plucked guitar and pizzicato cello, the flute in its lowest register and the resonance of the marimba, the higher registers of the guitar and marimba. The challenge of this piece, for me as a composer and for the performers, is to realize an intricate, vigorous rhythmic surface with incessant hockets of articulation and irregular, shifting meters and repetitions, through the instruments in these more delicate and gentle timbres.

This work was commissioned by NOISE and San Diego New Music.

CD Available

11×8.5 PDF score and parts set
$25

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(ASCAP) and © Christopher Adler (ASCAP)