…where you end and i begin… —2013

…where you end and i begin… was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association for Stephanie Caulder, oboe, and Henry Wong Doe, piano, who premiered it at the 2013 Pennsylvania Music Theaters Association Annual Conference, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Program Notes

where you end and i begin starts with a Sicilian lullaby, which, for me, evokes my family’s roots. This lullaby is developed into a string of variations, forming a musical thread that ties together all five movements. While the variations range in tone from playful to rhapsodic, they are like family in that they share characteristics, yet each is undeniably unique. In relationships between friends and family, clear boundaries often give us a sense of order and clear expectations. In this piece, however, boundaries are intentionally crossed, both in form and style, to explore connections:

The end of the 1st movement resumes at the beginning of the 3rd movement;

the end of the 3rd movement resumes at the beginning of the 5th movement;

the end of the 5th movement is connected to the beginning of the 2nd movement;

the end of the 2nd movement is connected to the beginning of the 4th movement;

and the end of the 4th movement is connected to the opening Sicilian lullaby.

While this may appear complicated, it’s musically somewhat simple and satisfying: by the end of the third movement we have met the entire musical “family,” after which the 4th and 5th movements bring us back into musical conversations that are both familiar and new.