seven glances at a mirage


Duration ca. 8' (2003)
cello, violin, piano

 
 

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Premiered by Strata Trio, ClarinetFest, University of Maryland, College Park, MD July 22, 2004.

Other performances: Strata Trio, New York, NY, November 21, 2010; Strata Trio, College Park, MD, February 10, 2019; Strata Trio, Baltimore, MD, April 18, 2019.

Leshnoff's command of instrumental color is so firm, and his tart, insinuating harmonies so arresting...strong-limbed and imaginative.

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, July 2012

 

program note

I composed this piece for Strata Trio in 2003 and consciously incorporated Strata’s signature sound and flare into the composition. The clarinet cadenza was shaped with Nathan Williams’s guidance and suggestions and the virtuosic violin and piano writing compliment the remarkable capabilities of James Stern and Audrey Andrist that I noticed in my initial meetings with them.

Seven Glances is structured in seven brief “movements” played in succession and linked by a common motivic element introduced in the opening measures by the violin and clarinet. Shaped in an arch form, these movements include cadenzas for each instrument.

As the motive can be quite hidden at times, the interrelationship between movements reminds me of a mirage.

The titles of each movement are:

  • From afar

  • Discerning

  • Doubting

  • Running

  • Vanishing

  • Re-adjusting

  • Illusion