Between the Lines (2020)

Between the Lines explores the idea of a groove that is both patiently-developing and incessant. Commissioned by CULTIVATE 2020, Copland House’s emerging composers’ institute, the piece opens with a colorful and noisy flourish, which is relentlessly repeated to form this groove. A compound melody appears next, shared among instruments and slithering in between the grid of pulses formed by the repeated flourish – hence the title. Over the course of the piece, this melody returns in a number of guises, always accompanied by the pulse, and eventually leads to a raucous climax. Ghostly echoes follow, but once again the opening flourish slowly begins to dominate the texture, bringing the piece to a boisterous close.