Program Notes

Pop swatches exploits the premise that many of the stylings typically found in rock music are equally plausible for concert instruments. I built a series of fragments, overtly based in heavy metal guitar riffs and drumming, and then rotated them through various pairings in a manner akin to comparing swatches of color. The comparison process itself became the shape and form of the piece. The brief intro - intro: shred & riff - is a sort of free-for-all, primarily in the style of a shredding guitar solo that establishes the bulk of material from which the entire piece is constructed. Without pause, the second movement - waka wah (inferred) - continues along similar lines, with the intention that the listener should imagine/feel/infer the presence of a wah pedal  effect underlying the music.

Pop swatches was composed for and premiered by cellist Jeffrey Zeigler with pianist Nicola Melville, September of 2011 at Gustavus Adolphus College,  St. Peter, and Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.