Crunch Time (2010)

Bass Clarinet, Cello, and Piano – 8 min.
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Program Note

Crunch Time was commissioned for Ensemble Zellig, a brilliant Paris-based new music ensemble. What impresses me most about their playing is their captivating exuberance in playing rough, primal music unapologetically, so in writing Crunch Time for them, I took advantage of the opportunity to write something determinedly brutish, joyfully violent, defiant, confrontational. The piece begins with raw intensity, fortississimo crude dissonances pounding against one another. This leads to a faster section, rugged riffs rocking with hard-hitting syncopations. And finally a tune, but not a pretty one — this is marked “insolent, punk” and refuses to go anywhere or go away.