In the Gatineau Woods

In the Gatineau Woods was written for Rebecca Gray to perform at the 2023 Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition. Rebecca is an extraordinary musician and she requested that the piece be really difficult. I was happy to oblige!  It is in three movements. The first is written in fragments à la Berio. The second is a quiet song in memory of my student and friend Maria Atallah, who, sadly passed away in January 2023. She was also a classmate and friend of Rebecca. The third song is a patter song — very fast with constantly changing meters. The spoken text near the end is a freely improvised cadenza. This is Rebecca’s creation. In the video clip, my piece begins at 13:35.