Pivot
reed quintet
(2021)

Duration: 7 minutes

Commissioned by Akropolis Reed Quintet

Premiered Summer 2021
Detroit MI

Composer’s Note

Pivot is the companion piece to Puddle, which was composed in the summer of 2020. Puddle was written to be compiled through a series of single-instrument recording sessions to accommodate for a necessary pandemic-related separation. Pivot was commissioned to be a piece that required Akropolis to play in-person as an ensemble.

The distinct live-ness of Pivot is folded into the piece in two ways. The first half of the composition is built to be highly responsive and interactive within the ensemble; in certain moments, the oboe cannot enter until the clarinet has started their line, or the bassoon and bass clarinet need to calibrate their lines to enter at the same time and maintain a unified tempo for a certain duration. While performers always have control over their interpretation of a work, I purposely built Pivot to tap into the tenets of great conversation—active listening, an awareness of the other people in the discussion, a consideration of time and space, and an engagement beyond the surface. This required flexibility also means that each performance will be slightly different, dependent on the individuals on stage and their interactions with one another. Some performances may sail through the first part of the piece with a sense of urgency or freedom, others may take on a more contemplative tone. Depending on the acoustics of the performance space, the ensemble may choose to let certain gestures resonate for longer or to compress time in certain sections to take advantage of the surrounding architecture.