Missing You was written for the McGregor-Verdejo Duo in Summer 2020, a time of social isolation due an ongoing pandemic. At the duo’s request, I wrote a piece informed by the work of composer Jo Kondo, with whom I studied Japanese music at the University of Victoria. Kondo’s music has an elusive “between categories” texture I admire greatly: is it almost the same music at almost the same time (heterophony)? Is the same music layered with itself staggered in time (a round, or canon)? Is the music’s line or melody divided between performers such that fragments create a whole (hocket)? Does tone colour create the illusion of melody (Klangfarbenmelodie)? Adrian Verdejo and Mark McGregor are dedicated interpreters of my work. It was a pleasure to write for them as a duo; Missing You is dedicated to them, commissioned through the generosity of the Canada Council for the Arts. First performance: January 21, 2021, Mark McGregor, alto flute, Adrian Verdejo, guitar, “Arts at One”, Muir Theatre, Douglas College, New Westminster, BC, and live-streamed.
