Form and Postlude is a piece in one continuous movement but with a distinct postlude which ends the work. I play throughout with the idea of pacing on many levels: the largest level is the idea of proportion of sections to one another, then harmonic rhythm (in the broad sense), then harmonic rhythm on a more local level, and of course then on the surface of the music there is instrumental texture and how fast the notes go by. Along with this sense of play in terms of the pacing and motion is the idea of color. I love this ensemble, and its palette of color has been part of my DNA, as it were, for many years, because Ravel's wonderful work Introduction et Allegro is such a cornerstone in the harpist's repertoire. While composing, I found myself feeling that I was entering into this colorful world that is possible with this combination of instruments, almost as if it were possible to step into a painter's palette in a real and visceral way, physically interacting with all the different colors. The title Form and Postlude nods to Ravel's Introduction et Allegro, although my piece lives in its own very distinct space apart from Ravel. -Hannah Lash

Inspired by a nightmare in which the composer was trapped in a garden of beautiful white flowers - each turn in the path leading deeper into a maze of fragrant but dangerous beauty.

Three Shades Without Angles is a piece that plays with the idea of transformation of musical shapes. When writing this piece, I was inspired by Auguste Rodin's sculpture The Three Shades, a detail sitting atop the sculptor's work The Gates of Hell, depicting a scene from Dante's The Inferno. Although my music is not representative or depictive of Dante or an image of hell, I was deeply drawn to the sinewy character of Rodin's work, its intensity, muscularity, consistency, and the way in which movement and energy is represented in his shapes. -Hannah Lash