Four Kinds of Impersonal Relationships
for flute and piano

Work no. 248
2023

This is another satellite piece of The Sea, the Dog, and the Bird, the other two being the piccolo and flute duet A Confession and the 25-minute long flute solo A Spell Against Air). It's an extended transcription of the first movement of the original: I broke the music down into four sections, and had fragments of each section go through two consecutive transpositions, the intervals being different for each section. Some rise and fall, some only fall; sometimes it's only fragments that get transposed, other times it's practically the entire section – hence the title.

Like the original piece, this one deals with an immigrant's experiences, even if an indirect way. The Sea, the Dog, and the Bird was based on Turkish children's songs, which I was attempting to learn while studying the language. This work reflects on relationships an immigrant forms in a new country, many of which end up being impersonal due to language and cultural barrier. I thought I made a cautiously optimistic reading of the situation, but when I transcribed the music for string trio, I was surprised to hear how angular and harsh the harmonies were.