Description

Overtone Window for solo oboe (duration: 3’30”)

for Andrew Blanke

Overtone Window is a short piece for solo oboe written as part of my project to take on “mini-commissions” for unaccompanied works during the spring and summer of 2020.

The Overton window is the range of political policies acceptable to the general population at any given time. The piece’s title is a reference to this idea as well as the harmonic content of the piece—a twelve-tone row formed using the order of pitches in the overtone series. Given the current political climate in 2020, much of the piece consists of gestures that are meant to sound angry and unrestrained, utilizing large intervals and asymmetric meters to create an unsettling atmosphere.