The subject of "wind" itself is presented in my piece: Each movement quotes a passage about wind — or air or breath — from a Mozart opera or song. The first movement, "Così, Eventually" is in classical sonata allegro form, and actually becomes the wind music from Così fan Tutte for a moment. "Evening Aria," the second movement, features a clarinet motif taken from the piano accompaniment of Mozart's gorgeously unfolding song "Abendempfindung." It seemed important to bring in Mozart's beloved clarinet; even though it is not in the solo wind grouping of my piece, it is heard as far-off, lost, longing to join the bassoon solo. The final "Variable Winds" comes without pause, a presto romp in rondo form. A sighing repeated-note motif from "Non so più" in The Marriage of Figaro completes the references to wind. The careful listener might hear more of Mozart's music in brief passages prompted by favorite piano concertos of the piece's commissioners.

I conceived of The Four Winds as a unified triptych, like the Mozart concertos. I realized after the fact that the movements' titles themselves are a verbally linked cycle: "Eventually" becomes "evening," and "aria" becomes enclosed in the word "variable."

Commissioned for the Phoenix Symphony.