Moods Swing (2014)
for piano solo
Approx. duration: 5 minutes
Premiere: October 24, 2014
The Mannes College of Music
New York City
Julia Hamos, pn.
PROGRAM NOTES
In the summer of 2014 I was approached by Thomas Sauer, a former classmate of mine at the Mannes College of Music and the head of the school’s piano studies, to contribute a piece to “Characteristics”, a showcase program of their students. Inspired by Schumann’s Kreisleriania, the idea was to provide modern piano pieces suggested by or describing characteristics of an acquaintance.
The descriptee of Moods Swing is someone with connections to both my concert music and theatrical lives, a manically lively and energetic person with an inquisitive soulful side. The musical theater connection led me to cast this piece in a straightforward, theater-song-like ABA form.