Strange Paths
2026
Violin - Cello - Piano
40 minutes
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Strange Paths is a multi-faceted piano trio, borrowing from several textural and structural elements to create something at once familiar and new. It is deeply steeped in the imagery of winding pathways through mountains, glens and the English countryside, all with a dark layering of mist that only draws back at the very end.
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November 1, 2026
Schare Recital Hall, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ)Sharon Cho: Violin
Eliott Wells: Cello
Jorge Tabares Garcia: Piano -
Through Dark Mountains
Branches Like Clawing Fingers
A Glen of Distant Sorrow
Scaling the Tor
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Strange Paths was originally conceived as a short exercise in piano trio writing at the behest of my advisor, Dr. Robert Aldridge. However, I soon realized that there was more potential to a piano trio than the five minutes I had initially come up with, and soon expanded it to a full, four-movement work in a traditional, romantic-era structure.
However, the movements themselves are sonically inspired by several aspects of my childhood, from watching storm clouds roll in over Swiss lakes (“Through Dark Mountains”) to walking over the crags of the Peak District near my then-home in Sheffield (“Scaling the Tor”). Each movement speaks to the imagery of its title, and to me, at least, conjures vivid memories of places far-flung and otherwise forgotten to time.
Musically, much is drawn from the influence rock and heavy metal, including harmonies and rhythmic structures that are idiomatic to those styles.
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