Biography

“Hardboiled (Red Harvest)” is a single movement work and is divided into two parts. Scored for clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, percussion, and piano, the piece was inspired by the crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett and the iconic visual imagery associated with 1940s film noir, including the interplay of light and shadow, the use of distorted camera angles and disjunctive narrative techniques (flashbacks and flash-forwards), and of course, the obligatory car chase.

As it relates to the work, I explore three concepts usually associated with discursive semantics: the brief, yet violent ”interjection,” the extended “interruption,” and the longer musical “digression.” It was my aim to create an energetic and engaging piece that focuses on the juxtaposition of dissimilar tempi, texture, and timbre, yet somehow maintains a sense of continuity and direction.