Co-commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Houston, and Chamber Music Monterey Bay for the Escher Quartet
I have written several pieces that contain movements that are evocative of weather: movements evoking storms, clear skies, and so on. For this string quintet, I decided to center the entire piece on clouds. I started thinking about the emotionality of clouds: what does certain weather mean to us?
The first movement, “Stratus,” imagines clouds that produce infrequent but large drops of rain. The title refers to the stratus cloud, one of the four main types of clouds, which often also forms fog. The musical result is a peaceful, static, and minimal chord progression, with pizzicato texture representing raindrops and occasional bursts of light, represented by harmonics, streaming through the fog. I also heavily adapted some of my existing “cloud” music: two short, fast movements that share musical material evocative of rain falling. These comprise the second and fifth movements of this quintet, “Zephyr” and “Storm,” respectively. Zephyr is a less threatening storm, while the later storm brings thunderclouds and more violence.
The middle movements both consider the topic of precipitation. “Nimbus,” the third movement, imagines a light, steady rain and takes as its inspiration the dark, brooding slow movements of Vivaldi. “Cumulus,” the fourth movement, imagines looking out the window at steady lake effect precipitation: something I’m quite familiar with having grown up in Buffalo, New York.
Finally, the last movement, “Cirrus,” reflects on the highest clouds, those wispy clouds that are closest to the edges of the earth’s atmosphere. Once again, the music returns to a static and meditative texture. I think of the highest and most beautiful clouds I’ve been fortunate to see in places around the world: in the highest mountains in Afghanistan, or in the dead of night in South Sudan. I try in this music to create a sense of questioning and of spirituality.
My deepest thanks are to the Escher Quartet and violists Jordan Bak, Luke Fleming, and Paul Neubauer for bringing this piece to life.
2026
Commissioned by Agarita for guitarist Pablo Saínz-Villegas and Agarita Ensemble
2026
Commissioned by Ann and Bill Van Ness for the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival
2025
Co-commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Houston, and Chamber Music Monterey Bay for the Escher Quartet
2022
This work was commissioned by La Jolla SummerFest and premiered at the Conrad in La Jolla, CA in August 2022.
2021
Written for Edgar Meyer and the Dover Quartet in 2021
2020
Commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
2018
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest, With Support From New Music USA
2018
Commissioned By Efe Baltacigil And Nicolas Kendall
2018
Commissioned by Chamber Music America with generous funding provided by the Mellon Foundation
2016
Written for Demarre, Anthony McGill, and Michael McHale
2015
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest
2014
Commissioned by the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival
2013
Commissioned by Orchestra 2001
2013
Commissioned by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society for the Attacca Quartet
2012
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
2010
Commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music
2010
Written For The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble
2009
Commissioned by Music From Angel Fire, Ida Kavafian, Director
2009
Commissioned By Curtis-on-tour for Benjamin Beilman and Yekwon Sunwoo
2008
Commissioned By The Curtis Institute Of Music
2007
2008 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award
