[ a m p l i t u d e : c a u s a l i t y ] (2019)
I originally composed this piece as an etude, and it ended up becoming more of an exploration in spatial temporality and performative-affective subversion. Duration of sonorities in this piece is largely regulated either by the decay length of the guitar’s natural sustain, or relation to the length and pulse of the performer’s breath. The performer is specifically instructed to ensure that the music takes place as slowly and as calmly as possible, with total dynamic range of the piece narrowed between barely audible and just above a mild mezzo-forte. This reductive approach lessens the control of the performer over the perceived affect of the performance, and it is rather the intrinsic patterns of motion and rest, tension and release that emerge from the music itself – “this isn’t the Concierto de Aranjuez; no one wants to hear how virtuosic you are.”