Disquiet (2004-2005) |

Performers:
Yale Philharmonia
Maestro Shinik Hahm, Conductor

Disquiet, my first work for orchestra, began as sketches of the opening theme in the fall of 2000.  The emotional impetus for these sketches was, to speak generally, the agitation of unspoken words, particularly when those words languish behind a closed door and façade of silence.  At the time I wrote it, the theme offered me a sense of solace: the first two bars an outburst, the mid-phrase modulation to E Major an element of hope.  I then shelved the music for four years, but was unable to put it out of my mind; I found myself drawn to its quasi-octatonic scale in other music I was writing.  In 2004, I decided that this was a piece I simply had to get off my chest.  In the course of my work, I realized that despite my disinterest in following any kind of programmatic narrative, the piece nevertheless embodied one of my most hard-won realizations: that even in the most agitated restlessness, a certain calm, quiescence, and even gratitude are possible.

Disquiet is dedicated with love to Steven, who is not only endlessly supportive, but whom I can always count on to know what I’m thinking before it occurs to me to share it.  I am deeply grateful to him, as well as to Justin Dello Joio and Martin Bresnick for their challenges and insights.

Disquiet was premiered by the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of Shinik Hahm in Woolsey Hall, Yale University, on March 31, 2005.