Contemplation No. 1
for Cello and Piano
Notes on the piece:
Contemplation No. 1, written in 2003, is as its title suggests: a deep and personal reflection on a particular matter. In this case, there are two contemplated matters. One of these matters is purely musical, while the other is a reflection on a state of emotion. The piece presents a rather limited amount of musical material that undergoes a focused investigation throughout the work. Along with this, the piece uses what I refer to as “cross phrasing,” where the musicians are called on to make the subtle shift of feeling needed to make the final note of a phrase also function as the first note of the next phrase. Concerning the emotional content of the piece, there is not a particular identifiable event connected to this feeling, but rather is an attempt to preset it in the musical sense. For me, this is much like how a painter may try to capture the “feeling” of the particular light that falls on an object at a certain time of day. The emotional feeling I attempt to capture in Contemplation No. 1 is not one of those that we give a single name to. Rather, it is one of the multi-state feelings that most emotions tend to be. As to what feeling it should evoke in the listener, I really cannot say I would know.