Bestiary Lore – Clockworks

Program Note

Bestiary Lore – Clockworks (2026), for percussion duo, was composed for Matt Andreini. Drawing from fantasy literature and tabletop role-playing games, a bestiary serves as a compendium of creatures, cataloging their attributes, statistics, behaviors, and lore as part of a larger world.

This work takes inspiration from clockwork constructs—mechanical beings animated through a fusion of magic and intricate engineering, their motion driven by the constant turning of gears, springs, and internal mechanisms. The three movements—the cycle is life, processing stimuli, and hivemind sync—trace a progression from continuous mechanical motion, through the intake and transformation of information, toward a state of coordinated, collective function.

Reflecting this, the music is built from systems of permutation, incrementing structures, symmetry, and interlocking rhythmic cycles. Techniques such as isorhythm, interference patterns, and looping processes shape a sound world in which materials evolve through repetition and variation, echoing the precise yet uncanny motion of clockwork life.

Movements

1. the cycle is life
2. processing stimuli
3. hivemind sync

Performance Information

Performance information coming soon.