Nettles is a minimalist piece with tricky, weed-like intertwining passages. The heavy left-hand piano part brings a more rock feel to the quartet sound.

THE Myth of Tomorrow for percussion ensemble has many prog-rock influences. The use of Moog Taurus pedals and other synthesizers provide the glue for binding the many percussion instruments.

Hoboken Suite features free-bass accordion, possibly one of the most under appreciated instruments in terms of dynamics, subtlety, and excitement – much like the city, which I tried to illustrate in the three sections of the piece.

Dream Fragments is a piano sonata augmented with electronics for maximum dream state effect. Evolving motifs recur in different forms throughout as random moments of clarity and mystery come and go.

1899 was written in memory of my grandfather, Victor Klein. Written in 1999, the opening and closing theme serve as book-ends to the century. The iconic elegance of Copland’s “Quiet City” and the paintings of Edward Hopper were also an influence.

Parallels – a tonal and atonal hybrid piece premiered by the Ensemble Assisi Musiche, in Assisi, Italy. Combining major intervals within an atonal tone-row is what provides the ambiguous tonality, also employed in Dream Fragments.

Four Journeys is for classical guitar duo. Writing for two guitars enables the widest possible chord voicings and interesting arpeggios that I tried to exploit through the piece. I foolishly thought playing both parts was going to be more practical but it ended up being the most time demanding recording on the album. Dedicated to the late Alexis Blumberg.

Hidden Places for 16 solo instruments was written for Música Nueva Målaga Internacional in Spain and revised for the Contemporaneous recording. I always liked the idea of doing a whimsical piece with electronic rhythms and unexpected “pockets” of musicality. There are a number of little sections onto themselves, but exist as part of a larger piece.

– Eric Klein