Two Ways To Be Alone (2006)

for Piano Trio

“It might be lonelier

Without the Loneliness”

by Emily Dickinson

Program Notes

This was the inspiration behind the composition. Dickinson suggested an interesting relationship between the loneliness and the lonely feeling. I extended this relationship into the composition as participant vs. observer under the situation of loneliness vs. in the concept of loneliness. The piece was divided into three very short “movements,” but they should be performed continuously. The form, in large scale, is A-B-A, with an introduction of solo cello at the beginning, and a postlude of violin solo corresponding to the introduction. These “two ways to be alone” interweaving each other throughout the piece, suggests humanity’s ambiguous awareness of loneliness.