Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano (2020)
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Instrumentation: Horn, violin, piano.
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Description: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of live concerts, one of my professors at UIUC suggested recording new pieces while we are socially distanced in our homes. While this particular piece isn't tied to events about the pandemic, it inspired other pieces I worked on while finishing and recording this one that are inspired by the pandemic.
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The main idea behind this piece was to take a single melody and base the entire work around it, something I had been studying with Bach's counterpoint and working on with some other pieces, such as my Octet for Winds from fall 2019. I sketched this melody first, and then created the rest of the piece around it. It took some time until I was satisfied with the structure of the piece, but once I was the point of the work made itself clear to me.
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The main melody I drew from isn't presented until halfway through the piece, when the horn gets it. The opening of the piece builds the melody from its constituant parts, bouncing between the three instruments. The first three notes become the motif for the opening until the LH piano starts to sneak in more of the melody. The horn then presents the melody in full once, and then the violin presents it with a more dissonant accompaniment. The coda more or less wraps things up, referencing ideas at the start.
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The piece was recorded with Anna Marshall on horn for night 2 of the UIUC New Music Collage recital, premiered on October 25, 2020 via Facebook Live.