<p><em>Transience</em> is music in a perpetual state of change. The title refers to its mercurial surface, whose materials, never able take root in their surroundings, exist only in the moment. They are pulled by the force of their own momentum into an ever-changing present, which itself is simultaneously destroyed and rejuvenated by the irrepressible flux of transformation.</p><p>The work's structure is bound not by referential motifs or programmatic formal designs, but by extended metastatic processes that motivate local and global changes in pitch, rhythm, dynamic, register, and melodic contour. The resulting developmental progressions are either linear, unfolding in a continuous fashion, or fragmented, featuring the rapid succession of disparate materials. In part, the drama of <em>Transience</em> depends on the listener's retrospective assessment of the diverse musical landscapes traversed. Yet the emotive power of <em>Transience</em> is also closely tied to the intense physical demands made upon the performer.</p><p><em>Transience</em> was commissioned by and is dedicated to Makoto Nakura, who gave the work's first performance at Suntory Hall, Tokyo on November 4, 1999.<br /></p><p><em>Jason Eckardt.</em><br /></p>