Snapdragon

Abstract

"Snapdragon" was written for and premiered by the Yesaroun' Duo with their fearsome exuberance and technical virtuosity in mind. The piece was composed during a time of media frenzy over America's initial attack on Iraq. Snow was falling in Princeton, physically trapping me in a tall apartment, while my connection with the outside world at the time - the TV - projected sensational stories and graphic images of far away places in turmoil. Gradually, I had this sense of becoming numb, as weather and war preyed on a creeping awareness of my incapacity to act in any tangible way. So, the music that emerged has a certain physicality, borne of frustration and a sense of disenfranchisement: it is m..