"PIANO TRIO NO.1" (2021)

PROGRAM NOTES

It brought me joy and hope, each day, sitting in my little East Harlem apartment creating this piece of music for friends back home despite the rapid, ever changing realities and circumstances of the time. I strive for authenticity in what I write, where the music speaks for itself, and this often means the music reflects the state of mind of the composer. I think in this case, you’ll hear a composer’s search for the good.

There is not an explicit program to the work and so I encourage listeners and performers, above all else, to experience it without ears prejudiced by this note, or the title and to take their own meaning. For me, the rhetorical argument that inspired this work is some abstract struggle between chaos and clarity, trying to find peace and calm among the many weights, pressures and provocations of life that constantly attempt to subvert any sense of our psychological, emotional or spiritual focus, composure and solace. The idea for the work began several years prior to writing the trio with a simple progression of chords that brought me great comfort. The progression returns through the work, always acting as an anchor trying to bring the music back to earth and establish some sense stillness and calm. While it is uplifting and hopeful, it is also searching and questioning, ultimately conceding that in some ways, the search will always be ongoing.