Tapestries (2018)

Written for flute, viola, cello, and piano. Commissioned by Stephanie Oana for the celebration of her and Joe Osha’s 25th marriage anniversary. Premiered in the home in Oakland on April 28th, 2018 by Sasha Launer (flute), Justin Ouellet (viola), Lewis Patzner (cello), and myself on piano.

Stephanie Oana, my friend from the St. Paul Lutheran, Oakland community, commissioned me to compose a piece for the 25th anniversary of her marriage to her husband, Joe Osha, which was performed at a party at their home for the occasion, on April 28th of 2018, a lovely home in the Oakland hills with a Steinway grand.  She requested that it be, “something contemporary but tuneful, and a bit jazzy,” and sent me a very heart-warming, beautiful and detailed account of how she and Joe met and their marriage up to that point.  Their episodic life together included living in New York City, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and the bay area.

I did not set out to write a biographical account of their lives specifically, but mused more generally on the trajectories of the lives of those who have set their roots down in several different places.  My own life feels like it has existed in distinct blocks of four to five years, and it seems like a general trend for people in our society.  Four years of high school, four years of college.  The future may consist of grad school for a couple years, maybe getting married (MAYBE), potentially having a kid (POTENTIALLY), waiting three and a half more years and have another (pff, in this economy?)

With each new period of life, things begin slowly and distinctly.  In the beginning are maybe only a couple friends or social connections, and maybe a single hobby or activity.  Life feels more raw, less full, lonelier.  With more time spent in a place comes more codified routines, bigger social circles, way more commitments, and life becomes vastly denser.  Over the years you spin an utterly complex web and traverse it like a deft and hungry spider, consuming the fruit of your labors with machine-like ease (ideally).  Then, you move, and start all over.

Tapestries is the musical manifestation of this idea.  Each section begins with individual introductions of separate elements of a final texture, and these elements eventually layer atop one another and weave together to form a complex quilt of the disparate musical threads.  In a sense it parallels baroque counterpoint and fugal form, but the musical ideas in Tapestries are often more dissimilar, leading to more unexpected layerings.  And like life, Tapestries doesn’t follow this form exactly, and has unexpected developments, turns, and sudden changes.

This recording was performed by Sasha Launer on flute, Lewis Patzner on cello, Justin Ouellet on viola, and myself on piano. It was recorded at St. Paul Lutheran Church, and the session was engineered and mixed by Alex Oana (Stephanie’s brother) and Don Setaro.