SOLOS

Commissioned by the Carpe Diem String Quartet

Year composed: 2021

Duration: 13.5’

Aside from composing for the concert stage, I found work writing music for independent films during my studies in New York. While working on such projects, I found the collaboration between composer and filmmaker runs smoother if the composer attempts to learn more about filmmaking vs. the filmmaker attempting to learn more of music composition. This in mind, I considered myself as much of a storyteller as my filmmaking counterparts and paid more attention while viewing films to lighting, pacing, cinematography, and—the element relating to SOLOS most—narrative structure. 

Regarding the latter, most films and stories are built on one narrative that consists of an order of events to be presented to the viewer chronologically. One particular film that took this concept a bit further was Christopher Nolan’s film, Memento (2000). Instead of having one narrative, Memento uses, (primarily), two—one, in black and white, moving forward in time, the second, in color, moving backward. Starting with the latter, the film begins at the end of the story and continues through a series of flashbacks within flashbacks alternating with the black and white scenes. As these narratives are moving toward one another, the film's climax takes place at the story's center. Knowing this, if one were to reedit the film, having each scene in reverse order, the story's structure would be the same—creating a palindrome. With my respect for form and structure in music, I became curious about witnessing this cinematic, palindromic narrative structure be adapted to a musical composition. 

SOLOS, like Memento, is comprised of two "narratives"—one more rhythmic and bright, the other, melodic and melancholic. The piece alternates between the two in a pattern that allows the former to decay measure by measure as the latter comes to surface in the same way. The process is then reversed, completing a palindrome before having both "narratives" played simultaneously in the finale. 

To avoid sounding inordinately linear, the work is filled with other developmental components such as cadences, pauses, and an intro and outro section. When reduced, though, the work can be viewed as the following palindrome:  

8A—1B, 7A—2B, 6A—3B, 5A—4B, 4A—5B, 3A—6B, 2A—7B, 1A—8B

(reverses) 

8B—1A, 7B—2A, 6B—3A, 5B—4A, 4B—5A, 3B—6A, 2B—7A, 1B—8A 

Other facets that display palindromic structures are the tempo—151 beats per minute, the duration—515 bars, and the most obvious—the title’s spelling—S.O.L.O.S.