Composed without reference to a program or extra-musical concept, this piece of absolute music was an exercise in what I love the most about chamber music: evolving relationships and good counterpoint. As my first trio composition of this configuration, I focused on all the ways these players could interact with each other, often changing each player’s role in the piece from a soloist to the subordinate to the equal partner. Within the context of these relationships, important themes are developed and some are even protracted across the movements. I consciously draw upon good principles of rhetoric when I compose, and I believe this piece provides one of the best examples of this approach.