palette (…or palate)

Piece Information

Instrumentation: string quartet

Duration: ~ 11 minutes

Date: © 2017

In this set of miniatures I wanted to explore ways that timbre can develop over time and I therefore used some of my favorite flavors and olfactory experiences as a source of inspiration for each piece. In no particular order these were: coffee, lemon, salt, jalapeño, gin martinis, and oysters. This is not the order that they’re presented in the score; I think the matter of which miniature matches which subject was far more important to the compositional process, insofar that it was, than it will be to the listener’s or performer’s experience.

Program note:

Each movement of "Palette" is an exploration of translating the experience of a fragrance or taste into music.

Many times when I’m trying to describe a flavor or a scent, I often find myself doing so in terms of timbre, frequency response, or reverberance. This is probably just because I learned to mix rock bands before I learned to mix salad dressing, but either way, these little soliloquies tend to earn some weird looks from friends. My wife is the only other person I know who does this.

More about this Piece :

Performances:

  • 2025, Suncoast Composer Fellowship Faculty Concert

    Manhattan School of Music

  • 2025, Suncoast Composer Fellowship, Faculty Concert

    Sarasota FL

  • 2024, New York Composers Circle Opera America, National Opera Center New York, NY

  • 2017, The Juilliard School

    Paul Hall, New York, NY

Scores and parts available for purchase

See the Contact page.