Program Note

Soft Margins and Wide Peripheries consists of a number of modules—ranging from single held notes, to multiple pages of events—built from an interconnected reservoir of piano harmonics. The material is cast in a series of grids, in which the spacing and proximity of events between and within these grids illuminates the subtleties of the harmonic and timbral qualities of each string and harmonic. These simple forms attempt to discourage a syntactical mode of listening, inviting one to take notice of peripheral facets of each harmonic sonority (e.g. variance in articulation on a single harmonic, how the decay of a note blooms or dissipates). The influence of Agnes Martin and Mei Mei Bersenbrugge loom largely in this piece.