Glow

Glow was written rapidly in the summer of 2018 in only two weeks. For years I had imagined this work as bursting clusters. And when I sat down to write it, the music poured out of me. The work features shining harmonies and melodic lines in small instrument pairings similar to my other works. Using an ABA format, pulsing harmonic rhythms and falling sixteenths create a minimalistic background. The B section was my favorite part of this work. True to the format, it offered a moment to break away from the previous ideas. This section is quiet and dry, presenting the music in a falling motive in the woodwinds while creating glowing effects in the mallet percussion and muted trumpet. Once the original A material returns, the syncopated sixteenth-note motive repeats several times. Thick scoring along with the pulsing sixteenths culminate into a final burst to close out the piece. -Joni Greene