Instrumentation: clarinet and piano (7:00)
First Performance: The Knitting Factory, New York City, 2007
Instrumentation: alto saxophone and piano (7:00)
Instrumentation: viola and piano (7:00)
Instrumentation: violin and piano (7:00)
Much of Susman’s music of the 90s and beyond explores the repetitive rhythms heard in Afro-Cuban music. One such gesture is the montuño, a repeated syncopated line or ostinato, often assigned to the piano, which outlines the harmony of a passage. In Susman’s music, any instrument can play a montuño. He also uses medieval rhythmic and contrapuntal devices called hocket and isorhythm. What results is an episodic conversation between the instruments.