Flows of Traffic

For large chamber ensemble (1111.0100.piano.string quartet)
Performed by Ellen Cheng, Lauren Breen, Luis Lechuga-Espadas, Taki Salameh, Tali Duckworth, Day Yang, Laura Gamboa, Sarah Beth Overcash, Julia Moss, and Olivia Marckx
Theo Trevisan, conductor
April 6, 2024, St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Los Angeles, California

My thoughts on driving and writing for large ensembles changed over the last few years in similar ways: I was initially reluctant, and then the right experiences made me enjoy them much more. Writing for orchestra last year convinced me to write for a large chamber ensemble for this recital, and driving across the country by myself this past summer gave me lots of time to think about how I would do that. I noticed how the cars weaving between the lanes felt almost contrapuntal, and repeated routes reminded me of imitation and cantus firmus writing.

The piece is split into 4 sections, each loosely inspired by a different driving location and developing an imitative ‘cantus firmus’ differently. First is chaotic New Jersey, where the flow of traffic is at least 15 over the speed limit on the highways. The cantus firmus builds by adding one note each iteration, with some voices veering around more chaotically than others. I learned to enjoy driving in the rural roads of southwest New Hampshire, where I work for the Walden School’s Young Musicians Program in the summers. There, the sparse roads meander through small towns, making the driving experience relaxing; the cantus firmus develops much more slowly and irregularly. The third section of the piece is inspired by my two cross-country road trips, where the vast open beauty of the West awed me and made me feel quite small in comparison. Here, several large chords unfold slowly as the piano methodically moves through the notes of each chord in a scale. The piece ends with the chaos of Los Angeles, abruptly shifting from jammed traffic to reckless maneuvering as the cantus firmus becomes shorter and faster.