System Preferences
for violin, violoncello, and piano (2017, 2018) | Premiere: Musicians of the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program
System Preferences is a suite of three pieces: Systema Naturæ, Systema Machina, and Systema Deus. Systema Naturæ was recorded in the summer of 2017 and subsequently premiered in the spring of 2018 in Los Angeles, by members of the Sunset ChamberFest. The full System Preferences suite was premiered in the summer of 2018 in Vermont, by members of the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program.
The pieces call for a retuned violin and mutes for the strings and piano in order to repurpose the sound of the trio in painting a landscape that is technically familiar to the players and sonically unfamiliar to the audience. The three systems share germinal material but treat it distinctly. Both the timbral similarities and disparities of the three instruments are explored through the dramatic scope of the ensemble.