Revolve

"Revolve" was written for and dedicated to Sybarite5 through a commission from Chamber Music America. I wrote the piece as soon as I moved back to NYC in the fall of 2013 after spending a few years in thepleasantly quiet town of Princeton, NJ. With a change of pace in Two Bridges, a small section of Chinatown in downtown Manhattan, I was influenced and rejuvenated by the upbeat hustle and bustle of the community and neighborhood. I would often walk around and soak up the energy, and caffeine (espresso addiction), and this inevitably made its way into the music. The title refers to the musical textures that evolve and revolve around the five-note motive performed by the cello at the start of the piece - my attempt at representing the energy musically. I also synesthetically associate triplet rhythms as large circles, and the persistent triplets in the high register harmonics of the viola symbolize the lone wanderer orbiting, sometimes aimlessly, through an endless sea of people.

- Andy Akiho