(String Solo). Composer Note: String Force (2010) was commissioned by
the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis for the 2010
competition and underwritten by the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation in
honor of the children and families of Christel House. It is dedicated
with great affection and admiration to the violinst Jaime Laredo. The
7-minute work was an attempt at writing a challenging piece for violin.
Between the high speed of notes within a visceral energy context and the
high delicate registral writing, there are many technical as well as
musical challenges within this work. After hearing the sixteen
semi-finalists at the Indianapolis Violin Competition perform String
Force, I realized there is also much range for interpretation.