Composer’s Note:

Past Light was commissioned by, and is dedicated to the New York New Music Ensemble, whose members I have enjoyed an enriching professional relationship with for over 20 years.

The commission itself was generously funded by the Argosy Foundation.

Past Light is scored for clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano and cast in three movements totaling about 16 minutes.

The three movements are One Thread Within It, which is divided in three unequal sections and employs the four instruments in equal degrees.

The second (All Together) features each instrument in a solo capacity; these solos are cast against individually designed backdrops; the basic ingredients of the four instruments’ solos sound simultaneously at intermittent points in the movement as well.

The third movement (Open) is a concise set of characteristic variations on an ever-changing theme, whose origin is imagined.