TiPPING POINTS:
AN OCTOBER SURPRISE

for piano four hands (2024), c.6’30’’

Tipping Points: An October Surprise, completed on October 10, 2024 (which were more optimistic times), was an attempt to convey in music for piano four-hands the very strange 2024 U.S. Presidential campaign as well as an attempt to predict its outcome. (I turned out to be wrong.) The two pianists engage in a constant sonic argument akin to one upmanship and the choreography required to perform this music is designed to evoke a contentious debate, but there was no attempt to actually have the two pianists mirror the two candidates. (With post-election hindsight, some people might find the euphoria of the last two sections of this music unbearable now that we know how everything turned out, but they should serve as a reminder of what might have happened, indeed what should have happened, and perhaps the relentless clusters that permeate this music now can convey the irrepressible anger over what didn’t happen.)

Purchase the score here.