Spin

I wrote Spin while the nation was in the throes of a very close and unendingly frustrating presidential race. Although everyone was talking about the election, and some incredibly important issues were at stake, most mainstream media coverage was full of meaningless sound bytes repeated ad nauseum. The words coming from the campaigns - and from the mouths of the candidates themselves - were often similarly meaningless, generally lies or evasions of the truth, whipped into justifiable issues by the recurring cycles of spin.

Spin somehow came from my disgust in witnessing the entire electoral process. While I have no illusions that instrumental music can somehow paint a tangible political picture on its own, this work explores something musically that exists in real life: the recycling and reinterpretation of a very small amount of material into different spheres of ideas.

Whatever - that's one way of describing this piece. Another is to call it an expansive and challenging piece for solo piano, propelled by driving rhythms.

David Hanlon, a fearless and accomplished pianist, premiered Spin at a solo recital in Cairo, Egypt in July 2005.