Composer’s Note:

My dear piano teacher passed away in May of 2023 and this composition is for him, as well as for my sister Gayle Blankenburg, also a Menahem Pressler pupil. It is dedicated to her (as are all of my piano compositions) and its thematic material includes obvious or oblique [public domain] references to the works of several composers in her repertoire.

Why this title? It was chosen in part because the iris of the human eye is a person’s unique identifier. As a component of our vision anatomy, it regulates the reception of light to maximize one’s vision – in darkness as well as in degrees of light. And also, perhaps, because it envelops the “pupil”, whose range of vision is guided and clarified by the Iris.