Duration: 8'30"
Commissioned by and Dedicated to Caleb Herron
TONOI XIII is part of an ongoing series of works for solo performers. During the writing of these solo works, I have established certain characteristics common to all the pieces in the series. The pieces are episodic and abstract in nature, having no specific idea or “program” attached to them. Although presented in one contiguous movement, the works are divided into clear sections. I write these compositions in a linear fashion – beginning with the first measure and writing straight through to the last with no insertions of sections; composing a later section before an earlier section; etc. This type of composition reminds me of a type of artwork called “continuous line contour drawing” which is achieved by the artist drawing without picking up the pencil off the paper. The game that I set-up up for myself is to figure out a way to return to the opening material no matter how far I have wandered. In all individual TONOI works, I am also interested in writing as idiomatically as possible for the respective solo instrument with each piece dedicated to and written for a specific performer. In the case of this work, I have written and dedicated TONOI XIII to percussionist Caleb Herron who also commissioned the piece.