About

Schism )) Pier is in two very contrasting movements describing a group of aesthetic, cultural, geographical & historical divides I have often attempted to unify over many years. In the score, I characterize this divide as (1) “future, father, West (passing fire)” and (2) “past, mother, East (worshipping ashes)”. The parenthetical aside refers to a quote that Mahler liked, that tradition is not worshipping ashes, but passing the flame. As to this possibly irreconcilable divide, some coherence is attempted through wave imagery and structures, as well as use of the primordial minor third. Nevertheless, in this piece the contrast is left mostly naked, merely described, not reconciled.

Schism )) Pier was commissioned by The Trondheim Soloists as part of Music Norway’s KUPP program, and is dedicated to Geir Inge Lotsberg.