14 minutes
violin duo

Listen to excerpts

From final section of the piece. At this point violin 2 (representing one's memory of the departed) plays from off stage. The elegiac "tune" that emerges (briefly) is a transcription of Schubert's "An Sylvia", a reference to my late grandmother.

Gone? ...I still search for you – In quiet contemplation...

Nothing has vanished... – Echoes pierce the silence

To Look Within, for two violins, was composed for János Négyesy and Päivikki Nykyter in memory of my grandmother, Sylvia. The piece addresses the thoughts and sentiments, myriad and complex, that one might experience after the death of a loved one.

The work has four major sections which proceed without pause. In each of these sections, the second violin plays from a different position on the stage. Each change in position corresponds to a shift in musical character. The dynamic posture of the second violin elicits an expressive response from the first violin, who remains at center stage throughout the performance.

Metaphorically, I prefer to think of the two violinists as both representing the same individual rather than that of two distinct personalities, where the first violinist is the outward manifestation -- that which is active, emotive -- and the second violinist is the protagonist’s memory, specifically concerning the departed. The sort of interior conversation implied by such a dramaturgy was a guiding consideration for the piece; when one contemplates the profound influence of another’s life, one enters a timeless space and looks within.