Program Notes
The Whole Story is a three movement oboe sonata I wrote for oboist Josiane Henry in 2005. It is an early piece for me, and rarely performed now, but it’s still in my catalog for an important reason.
People often ask young composers to define their musical ‘voice’ — often prematurely. We can only try things in the moment — and we only really know in retrospect what felt right to us at the time.
Listening to this piece so many years later, it is so obvious that I am fighting my through all the ‘voices’ with which I no longer wish to communicate, into what ultimately became some of the backbones of my style. It’s all there: the aleatoric middle movement that eventually found its way into conversation with unmetered Hindustani aalap, the angular last movement that finally releases into a warm, hopeful melody. This piece contains the the first wisps of my own musical questions — questions that I have been asking ever since.
Recording
Excerpts:
Josiane Henry, oboe
Martin Kennedy, piano
Premiere/Performances
This piece was premiered in 2005 at Morse Recital Hall at Juilliard by Josiane Henry (oboe) and Martin Kennedy (piano).