Hymns After Laurie Spiegel

ensemble solo piano
written summer 2022
duration 16-19 minutes

Commissioned by Stephen Ai

Supported by Harvard University’s Harry and Marjorie Ann Slim Memorial Fund

When I first encountered the sprawling and obsessive beauty of Laurie Spiegel’s music, I was amazed by its experimentation, technical craft, and deeply realized spirituality. Most moving to me was how intensely alive it all felt despite being entirely electronic. Contemplative at turns and pulsatingly rhythmic at others, her work was suffused with an organic sense of discovery: listening to her music, I felt as though I was hearing a master improviser discover a new set.

I myself frequently improvise at the keyboard as I compose. After playing for long enough, though, my jam sessions almost invariably return to the transparent harmonies and voicings of the church hymns I grew up accompanying. Despite their ascetic nature, these songs, too, felt alive to me. Their ritualistic manner, instead of alienating me, often invited me into a place of meditation.

Hymns After Laurie Spiegel was written during a very emotionally tumultuous time. To ground myself during the composition process, I considered two hymns that have been especially meaningful to me - Abide With Me and Nearer, My God, to Thee - and sought to place them within the spacious grandeur of Spiegel’s cosmic soundscapes. This piece is dedicated with much gratitude to pianist and commissioner Stephen Ai, as well as my dear friends Annie Hart and Timo Andres who introduced me to Spiegel’s music in the first place. I have much love and admiration for all of them.