AutoSonata
For any number of any instruments.
Program Note
This piece is actually two pieces, AutoSonata Alpha and AutoSonata Beta, depending on how the performers choose to put the text score for it together. When I was an undergrad I became really interested in the works of the experimental composers of the early sixties...John Cage, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young, all of those guys. I really like the idea of an open ended piece, where you're not 100% on what's going to happen until it's already happened. The problem, though, is that by creating works that posed questions about what music actually is, and the role of the composer, those composers opened the floodgates for anyone with half an idea to throw it on paper and call it art. You might have noticed the same thing with visual arts.
For me, this piece was a solution to a problem: how could I write an open ended piece that would be unique in every performance, and pay homage to those experimental composers who paved the way for a whole new school of musical thought, but still maintain enough of my voice in it to call it my own and actually use what technical skills as a composer I have? The answer came in coming up with some very strict guidelines for performance, that guarantee the piece will sound a certain way but still never be the same twice. I composed the rhythms and a structure (I think my heart might beat in 7/8), and gave some directions as to pitch usage. Each performance represents a different way for those rhythms to fit into that structure.
What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing. I like the way it ends up sounding, and I hope you do too.
Download or view the score by clicking here.
