DESCRIPTION:
The Mojave Trio:

Sara Parkin, violin
Margaret Parkin, cello
Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano

from Albany TROY1495

http://www.albanyrecords.com

THE COMPOSER WRITES:
Looking for Answers augments a standard piano trio of violin, cello, and piano with electronically manipulated sounds derived from the same instruments. The sonorities and certain stubbornly recurring intervallic structures in "Frozen Questions" seek answers with serious but nearly paralyzing determination.
In a series of inwardly spiraling thoughts, "Contemplation" interacts with and is often swept away by an electronic fog of modified piano sounds.
"Dance" shrugs its shoulders and turns its back on the quest, mixing dance rhythms from several continents and cultures. Perhaps this is the only appropriate answer.
Looking for Answers was written for the radiant Mojave Trio.

Born in 1950, composer Tom Flaherty is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His music is performed throughout Europe and North America by some of the best known contemporary music ensembles in the United States A graduate of Brandeis, SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Southern California, he currently is on the faculty at Pomona College. An accomplished cellist as well as composer, Flaherty's compositions reflect his love of this instrument. The music on this recording was written over a seven year span and was inspired by his friends, colleagues and family. His compositions juxtapose simple things in interesting ways. Colliding meters, tempos, modes and levels of dissonance permeate his recent music but the performer's experience remains at the forefront.