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Senior (2008)
ensemble solo string quartet and orchestra (1=picc.2.2.2.2-2.1-perc(2)-str.)
commissioned by New York Youth Symphony
première scheduled for March 23, 2009, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
A solo string quartet is the protagonist in this chamber-like music.
I’ve been thinking about the particular state of mind of a senior, that peculiar combination of expectancy, finality, boredom, and bewilderment that comes at the end of an important but mixed experience.
Senior is a bit sad, but not sentimental— or rather, whenever the music seems about to lapse into premature nostalgia, some new bauble comes along to distract it.