Unspoken

For Unspoken, I set out to write a film score for an imaginary film, but found that I couldn’t think of images to accompany the music—I leave that task up to the audience. While improvising at the piano, I came up with two musical motives, both of which are presented at the outset: the oscillating minor-third motive heard in the strings; and the half-step motive in the oboe. These two motives chase each other throughout the piece, as the intensity of their dialog gradually increases. After the work was finished, I thought about the result, and the idea hit me that it was like a conversation in which each person leaves something unspoken—and how that unspoken element can grow in importance until it dwarfs all else.