Program note for reflection

Reflection (2020), for flute, clarinet, and piano, was composed for Earplay in honor of Andrew Imbrie’s 100th birthday. Only three minutes long, it is a spare meditation in which the flute and clarinet converse in long intertwined lines over soft harmonic progressions in the piano. The central chord of the progression, Bb-D-E-A, derives from the letter names (in German) that appear in Andy’s name: AnDrEw imBriE. The title refers both to the piece’s palindromic form and to thoughts of my friend and colleague, recollected in solitude during the early months of the pandemic when the piece was written.

Fred Lerdahl