This piece was written for my dear friend Seiji Cataldo. After having had many opportunities to hear his fine playing, I became inspired to write a work for him, and this is the product. In this work, I appealed to his strong, sensitive, and charismatic playing style with bright, agile lines and a plethora of multiple stops, but also with smooth, lyrical tunes and delicate harmonics.

The movement is cast in a sonata form. The piece begins with a fanfare-like rhythm, which gives way to a background of colorful tertian harmony. The violin enters with the first theme, declamatory in character and with a strong tritone. A harmonically adventurous transition brings the music to the second theme, a lyrical tune with octatonic suave. A slow development with omnipresent off-beat pulses follows, and eventually the music arrives at the recapitulation. Both themes are heard again, finally arriving in the original key.

This work was premiered by Seiji Cataldo and Jesse Brault at Urness Recital Hall, St. Olaf College, on April 12, 2013.