{"id":951,"date":"2016-08-08T09:50:56","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/?p=951"},"modified":"2016-08-08T09:50:56","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:50:56","slug":"solitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/2016\/08\/solitude.html","title":{"rendered":"Solitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"solitude-clipart-8000373-an-image-of-a-lonely-person\"<\/a>A few months ago, a friend informed me that he was including my Mister Blister<\/em><\/strong><\/a> on an upcoming program of unaccompanied violin music called Solitude<\/em>.\u00a0 I have a happy relationship with Mister Blister<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, which I wrote maybe ten years ago, but the notion of solitude stuck in my head, and I asked if I could write him a new piece with that title.\u00a0 He said by all means, and now the piece is done.\u00a0 It starts with a drifting, atmospheric line that after a minute or so morphs into languorous blues.\u00a0 Once that shift is apparent, a gradual acceleration takes hold, and within six minutes it has become a frenzied dance.<\/p>\n

In any composition, to a certain degree I am drawing on techniques that are very familiar to me while simultaneously trying out new directions, or pushing familiar techniques in unfamiliar directions.\u00a0 Finding the right balance among those attitudes is second nature at this point. \u00a0There is a cusp at which I am able to challenge myself technically while leaving considerations of technique behind so I can completely focus on artistic matters.\u00a0 In this case, the technical challenge is creating an extended acceleration that impels the music forward in a way that feels both inevitable and unpredictable.\u00a0 The artistic matters have to do with solitude, which I find very comfortable and stimulating, though I can\u2019t help but note that certain kinds of solitude, or isolation, can lead to the atrocious acts of violence we seem to encounter more and more frequently.<\/p>\n

All of those issues, technical and artistic, should find themselves influencing every moment of the composition, if I\u2019m doing this composing thing the way I would like.<\/p>\n

Haven\u2019t shown Solitude<\/em> to my friend yet, but I imagine I will within a few weeks.\u00a0 Then, possibly, it will get a premiere in December.\u00a0 Or maybe December will bring another visit with Mister Blister<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Seems like a win-win scenario to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, a friend informed me that he was including my Mister Blister on an upcoming program of unaccompanied violin music called Solitude.\u00a0 I have a happy relationship with Mister Blister, which I wrote maybe ten years ago, but the notion of solitude stuck in my head, and I asked if I could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":953,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}