About “The Geography of Illusion” & Score Video 2

This piece, “The Geography of Illusion,” was completed over the summer, but began as a reading sponsored by CMU with the Del Sol Quartet. (This is who is playing on the recording.) The first two movements were completed in the early spring, and the final two over the summer.

The music alternates between bold, hyper-rhythmic sections and cloudy, rippling textures. Reminiscence and nostalgia are sensations that come and go unexpectedly, giving the illusion of familiarity and foreignness together. With “The Geography of Illusion,” I explored the tenacity and fragility of my own memory, particularly with the folk music of Eastern Europe.

Here’s a recording of the first movement.

At the University of Pittsburgh, I play in the Carpathian Ensemble, which performs “Eastern European folk fusion” or “immigrant folk funk”…the tunes are traditionally from the Balkan region, but the group riffs on them with a hodgepodge of instruments. I first began exploring the music of Bulgaria in my piece “Subra i Zaigra” in 2013, and I was happy to return to it for this piece.

I’m hoping to have this piece performed sometime this year, and I look forward to hearing the final two movements!