Remnants (of time and space), composed in 2009 for Ryan Fogg, is a single‐form work containing
seven movements that coalesce into two main parts. Each part signifies the spirit of
two places the composer visited and lived in 2009: Moscow, Russia, and Lake Baikal,
Siberia. The first two movements making up Part I of Remnants examine the
concept of time as space and as movement. In the third movement, time, as it has
been defined within the first two movements, is interrupted, and this interruption is
aurally identifiable, as the descending closing gesture of the second movement
becomes the springboard into the third movement. Part II explores the fluctuations
and changes that occur as time morphs into space and eventually reaches its end.
The ebb and flow of time, heard in the fourth and fifth movements, gives way to the
blurred boundaries between time and space in the sixth movement. The concluding
movement creates a static atmosphere as time runs out. Each movement of the
piece was composed using a motivic segment, or “remnant,” contained within the
first movement. This compositional technique represents a realization of the
composer’s philosophy that every place leaves its mark upon those who live in or
visit that place, just as travelers and residents leave their mark upon the places they
encounter. - Carla Colletti
