Sean William Calhoun | Composer and pianist

The first movement, "Perpetually Shifting Torus Knot," interlocks the quartet in overlapping arcs, creating a texture that acts as one of the main motives of the movement. Various versions of that texture are contrasted and combined with the second motive, which first infiltrates the beginning texture, then comes into its own as an independent motive. The second movement, "Cracks across the Void," is sparse and stark, with isolated notes accumulating into a chaotic texture from which a slow theme emerges, then is taken up by all parts in imitation. After becoming increasingly ornamented, the quartet gives one unified statement of the theme, before it disintegrates into the isolated points of sound that began the movement. The third movement, "Right at the Next Octopus," is rhythmic, with staggered entrances in quick succession alternating with rhythmic unisons. The titles (including “Angles and Intersections”) are all from a passage in Act 6 Intermission 3 of the webcomic Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie.