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nodus tollens (2016)

flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion

Composer's note:

At the heart of nodus tollens is a subject common in music: the idea of travel and the introspection it often evokes. In this work, I attempted to convey the myriad thoughts I have when walking late at night. The journey is leisurely yet purposeful; my mind is free to wander in parallel with my eyes while my feet continue to carry me homeward. I attempted to capture the quickly changing nature of stream-of-consciousness thinking as it responds to both external stimuli and internal emotions. The piece’s distinct musical gestures, which vary in their presentation, are meant to behave like the rapidly-changing nature of thoughts. These gestures also repeat and overlap with each other, exemplifying how we sometimes think in circles due to fatigue or stress. The actual cause of these changing thoughts remains ambiguous, allowing the audience to project their own thoughts onto this journey.

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