Hockey Story (2009)

Program Notes

I wrote Hockey Story for Brazilian-Canadian pianist, Luciane Cardassi. Luciane had immigrated to Canada a couple of years beforehand and was interested in exploring the hockey culture of Canada. She was also looking for a piece that involved electronics and speaking or singing, which was a good fit for my compositional interests. A hockey theme is somewhat outside of my usual work, but I decided it would be a good challenge and provide me with some fresh perspectives.

The text is taken entirely from hockey terminology. I weave together short word-units in order to create a narrative that references what I see as aspects of the spirit of hockey, playing with both the meaning and sound of the words. Throughout the piece, there is a counterpoint between the voice, electronics (controlled by the pianist), and piano, creating a three-way dialogue.