Mirage (2000)
for flute or saxophone
Duration: 5 min
Mirage begins quietly with small gestures that fade in and out of silence. Gradually these gestures develop into increasingly aggressive statements, yet drop back almost immediately after reaching a high point of intensity. The piece fades out as it began, vanishing before any substantial development or form takes place. Mirage 2 further explores the idea of the real versus the illusory through its treatment of gesture and timbre. Air tones, percussive attacks and soft tremolos juxtaposed with jagged melodic lines blur the boundaries between sound and silence, pitch and noise, monody and harmony.