for solo piano
I. Innocence
II. Reconcilation
III. Bliss
IV. Absolution
Evocations was written while I was in graduate school many years ago. I was in an upper-level theory course called “Transformations,” which is a branch of music theory developed by David Lewin in the 1980s which models musical transformations as elements of a mathematical group that can be used to analyze both tonal and atonal music. As a project for the class, I decided to implement my composition studies into a presentation of a piece that highlights these transformation principles and techniques. To show several variations of this atonal study I decided to make the piece into four small movements that act as etudes or studies for the performer. Even though the piece is atonal, I found much opportunity to create some consonant harmonies throughout the piece. Each movement’s title has no specific meaning – but simply a descriptive character that was inspired by the mood and sound of each one.