Night Owl (2020)

Instrumentation: Violin, Cello, Piano

Difficulty: Very Advanced

Duration: 7’20”

Performance Materials (PDF format): $40.00

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I am quite a night owl; most of my most productive bursts of energy occur when I am the only one in the house still awake. In composing this piece, I wanted to express the constant energy I feel working late at night.

This seven minute piano trio begins with discordant double stops in the violin and cello, leading into a constant battle between fast, aggressive gestures and slow, dreamy ones. This represents the struggle between the drive to be productive and the desire to sleep. Eventually, the piece somewhat settles into a fugue-like section in 5/8 with an ostinato underneath. The motion here is constant, leading up to a series of repeated notes on upbeats which die away, as the thought of sleep becomes more enticing. The B section is made up of two contrasting ideas which expand in length and content with each reintroduction; a fidgety, running sixteenth note motive and a stagnant, texturally driven motive built on false harmonics in the strings and low piano chords accented by twinkling gestures in the right hand. The piece then works its way back to the introductory material, once again driving in constant motion to the final clanging measures before the piece collapses under its own weight, ending on a glissando to a discordant palm cluster in the piano.

Listen to MIDI demo below