Piano Concerto 1 consists of thriteen attached movements: Early, Tension I, Conflict I, City,

Rain, Tension II, Conflict II, Snow, Pond, Tension III, Conflict III, Final Tension, Final Conflict.

The movements titled "Tension" or "Conflict" play-out the concerto tradition of theatrically repre-

senting a conflict between soloist and orchestra. In addition, five movements tie to personal

memories of living in Boston. For example, "City" echoes Boston's noisey traffic and paints sky-

scrapers by extreme verticalities while "Pond" mimics the reflection of lamps on Jamaica Pond.

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Although the concerto carries important extra-musical connotations, it is fundamentally a mus-

ical statement. In January 2006, I discovered the vibrant and euphonius sound of an octave

divided into thirds and quarters. The sound immediately resonated with my imagination and

within twenty-four hours, I had sketched a start-to-finish piano reduction of the concerto. I re-

vised that sketch heavily over the next three years. The final result is entirely made from four

basic building blocks: the chord that inspired it (013569), contrary motion in the circle of fifths,

a tone series (091584736A2B), and a cyclic rhythm/contour series (2131231323132131).

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