Fractured Transformations (2022) ~10’
[3333 2211 timp+3 hp pno strings]
Premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra as a winner of the 2022 Juilliard Orchestra Competition on April 18, 2022 at Alice Tully Hall.
"Fractured Transformations" was initially inspired by the sound of an orchestra flourish and the process of blowing glass. A red-hot piece of molten glass is shaped and blown and must constantly be reheated so that the glass does not crack and can continue to be shaped. Eventually, as the glass cools and the final shape has formed, the true color of the glass emerges, no longer red-hot. This piece follows this series of transformations through alternating two sections — a flourish that slowly "resolves" dissonant pitches each time it returns by melting and a contrasting section filled with non-pitched material that slowly adds in the clarity of pitch each time it returns. Throughout the piece, the flourish and non-pitched material morph, as glass being put into a furnace and shaped, until the glass object is fully formed and reflects in the light as it is displayed.