Canticle (in memoriam David Foster Wallace) (2019)
(for violin solo)

Canticle was commissioned by Drake University for my close friend, the violinist Sarah Plum. Sarah and I have collaborated many times over the more than two decades of our friendship. So when Sarah asked me about a piece inspired by one of the six Bach solo sonatas for violin I was of course thrilled, but also a little nervous, these Bach pieces being so familiar and so overwhelming in every way. I chose the A minor, a piece I particularly love. At the time of writing this piece I had just finished reading David Foster Wallace’s ‘Everything and More: A Concise History of Infinity’. Wallace is of course best known as a novelist, particularly for his expansive ‘Infinite Jest’ but he studied as a mathematician and his historical survey of mathematicians’ search for a way to grasp the concept of infinity in mathematics also led to considerations of irregular symmetries and infinite recursives in music. Of course, Bach’s music is also fertile ground for such considerations so in writing my piece I had these ideas in mind. The external architecture of my piece follows closely the structure of the Bach model but of course in all other things the music follows only my own imagination. Canticle is dedicated to Sarah Plum.