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Negotiations
2017

flute doubling piccolo
oboe doubling english horn
clarinet
bassoon
horn
2 violins
viola
cello
doublebass

duration 15'

commissioned by Symphony Nova
first performance:
Symphony Nova, cond. Larry Isaacson
Old South Church, Boston / April 7, 2017

SCORE  
Transparency
Force
Illusion and Agreement
Intransigence
Persuasion

PROGRAM NOTE
Over the past few years my working life (away from being a composer) has involved an increasing number of meetings and an increasing number of negotiations. I wanted to write a set of character pieces for this commission, partly because much of my recent music has traced long trajectories over substantial durations and I needed to face in a different direction for a while. So these five movements chart some of my travels through various styles of negotiation that I've been part of or witness to in recent months. The titles are self-explanatory but none of these movements is as straightforwardly representational as you might first think; there are reversals, eddies, asides, red herrings, dissembling, misdirection, etc. – all familiar parts of negotiating – and all useful devices for composing, which can be seen, in itself, as another form of negotiation.