Piano Quintet ‘New England’

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The beginning idea for my Piano Quintet “New England” came about in late 2008 or early 2009. It was an idea to write a large-scale three movement piano quintet that is my homage to the region I grew up in, where I lived from the age of one until I graduated from high school. When I was young, it seemed that every weekend my parents would drag us kids around to some new small town in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Vermont, which, as kids, we naturally thought was a drag. But going to college in a different area of the country has made me realize how ingrained “New England-ness” is in me, the small towns with a white church and a big steeple, the village green, the history and spirit of the revolution, the transcendentalist writings, protestant hymnody, etc. When I left is also when I really fell in love with the music of Charles Ives, which always strikes such a deep chord with my New England roots. It has now been six years since I have been able to witness a season other than summer in my home states, so I decided that I'd write this work as an homage to those seasons I have missed (and which I think are most distinctive and beautiful when in New England). Each movement is based on a hymn tune that I am particularly fond of and grew up singing in church. The main work on the piece was delayed, because of several other pressing projects, until the fall of 2010 and then was completed in February of 2011.

Premiered April 13, 2011 by the Tesla Quartet and the composer at the piano, at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO.