Stevens Fragments
Stevens Fragments for guitar quartet is a multi-movement prismatic engagement with the poet Wallace Stevens' 'Harmonium.' It engages the technical mastery of the performers through complex harmonic transformations, intricate counterpoint, and rhythmic juxtapositions, juxtaposing my musical aesthetic and technics with Steven's profound but aphoristic descriptions of time, music, and experience.
Even in fragmentary form, the poetry's ekphrasis of the physicality of performers, the symbolic significance of physical instruments, and the songs of birds push the reader always away from mundane life out to the Beyond. The composition of the work and the premiere have been funded through a generous grant from the George Washington University in Washington DC.