Allegory (2012)

            An allegory is a device used to present an idea, principle or meaning, and communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. Perhaps the most well known, and the one that first got me interested in allegories, is Plato's 'allegory of the cave.' They aren't restricted solely to literary devices either; an allegory can also be used as an artistic device, relying on visual symbolic representation rather than metaphorical. When Elizabeth Simeons asked me to write music for her to choreograph, I hoped to write a piece that would allow her to create movements that would do just that.

Allegory is by far the most serialist piece I've ever written. I used a combination of Stravinsky's rotational arrays and a simplification of Boulez's multiplication system to generate my pitch material. From there, I concentrated on contrasting moments of stasis with sections of driving rhythmic material.