Confide with Sly (1997)
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello & bass
Duration: 8'15''
Program Notes:
Confide with Sly is a piece about the search for individual expression within a tightly controlled environment. The musical material is built almost entirely from the opening two 3-note motives. These are developed throughout the work in alternating sections of increasing freedom and of increasing conformity. The motives' styles are married at the raucous finale of the piece when the opening motive is unmasked as a hidden quotation of Larry Graham’s famous bass line to Sly & the Family Stone’s funk classic “Thankyoufalletinmebemiceelfagin”. The work was first premiered by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 1997 with the composer conducting. A slightly revised version was made in the summer of 2004 and premiered in the Fall of that year.