Program Note

The inspiration for this work came from a recent tragedy sentenced upon the people of Ukraine. Sending many into disarray, the sheer magnitude fo war’s unforgiving nature inflicted upon the countless citizens of Ukraine has revoked livelihoods and entangled freedom into an ongoing conflict of terror and destruction. Despite this, the courage of these Ukrainian families have exuded an unbridled sense of bravery and willingness to sacrifice amidst tremendous loss and heartache. I have compared this to my own life and realized just how much I take for granted my liberties to everyday-living, and that I could not bear to grasp the mental image of my own home being missile-ridden or even my family being separated due to the wake of a deadly conflict such as the people of Ukraine unfortunately have fallen to. This stunning display of courage seen by all who have experienced similar hardship and persecution had inspired me to write this short piece for string quartet, and it continues to serve as a brief anthem to remember and honor those who have embodied bravery and resilience amongst numerous unimaginable trials.

After the completion of this original composition, it was brought to my attention that my composition contained a melodic fragment of Simple Gifts from Aaron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring, and at first I was taken aback by this apparent lapse in originality; I have never heard of this song before, and at that time I had already finalized and composed this work purely through the efforts of my own creative and inspirational thought at the piano. But I suppose this is the nature of music composition – that the amazing work which is Simple Gifts lives on through my own artistic voice at the most unparalleled of coincidences. My hope is that this unforeseen correlation only supports my creative vision for the piece in honoring the victims of Ukraine, as well as all who have been subjugated to unjust hardship and those who fight to be free.

Now venture into the chasms of my mind as I expose my technical understanding of four-voiced contrapuntal harmony by the means of this short compositional exercise for string quartet, limiting myself to conventional practices of tonality/voice leading whilst simultaneously challenging my preconceived notions of composition through the deprivation of myself from modern-day compositional techniques so easily attainable toward creative ingenuity by the now aspiring present-day composer.