Duo (2015)

       Duo is a piece for guitar duo that features challenging, yet rewarding, rhythmic concepts. It was written with the purpose of deeply exploring mixed meter, polymeter, polyrhythm, and metric modulation. In addition, the harmonic language is derived from an exploration of pitch-class sets. While technically demanding, the piece facilitates deep and profound expression on the part of the performers.

       The original theme, introduced in the opening measures, serves as the basis for the entire composition. The main pitch-class set of the piece is derived from this modal theme, thus all subsequent melodic and harmonic motives and ideas stem from, in one way or another, this theme.

        This piece also features a style of rhythmic accompaniment that I have created and am still in the process of exploring and developing. It combines the percussive beating of the body of the instrument with an articulation of the strings similar to the slap style commonly used by funk bassists. The result is a percussive and harmonic accompaniment from a single instrument.

        This recording features Jonnathan Clark and Marcos Salazar.