Wake is a (possibly "quasi minimalist") one movement composition for piano trio written in August 2011. It is from a collection fifteen pieces for various chamber ensembles based on the Australian author/illustrator Shaun Tan's "Tales from Outer Suburbia."

This particular piece was based on the shortest of the fifteen stories in Shaun Tan's collection (less than one page long) and is about a man who's house catches on fire after beating his dog to death. In my series of compositions based on Shaun Tan's work I have described each story in music with leitmotifs. Some of the leitmotifs that appear in this piano trio also appear in other works in the collection (eg the "night" chord is used again in "Night of the Turtle Rescue" for wind quintet). In this trio I have written quite a demanding 'cello part. I have extended the range lower by a tone and I have also written up as high as the E two octaves and a third above middle C.

Here is the illustration from Shaun Tan's very short story, Wake.

And I expect there will be more threads on all your compositions besides your 27th, 96th, 125th and 131st compositions, right?

Correct. Hopefully I will upload my 2009 composition "Rondo for Upright Piano" onto soundcloud sometime soon. What do you think of "Wake?" I sometimes feel that it gets too repetitive.

I like it. It seems very atmospheric in the sense that you can imagine what's going on in the story. But of course I'm only a pianist, i Don't compose much (the ones I do are very mediocre, and i seem to have given up ) it is repetitive, i agree. Best of luck with future works.

It is not minimalist. Minimalism concentrates on very small changes over a longer time period and tends to be tonal. If anything it would be new complexity. There are spots where it seems to stick with one thing a bit too long. That may be an artifact of it being a midi recording and thus lacking in expressiveness. It is a dramatic piece with adventurous harmony. Do you use serial or twelve tone techniques? If not please tell us about your melodic and harmonic strategies. Knowing a bit about what you're trying to say helped me put a framework around what I was hearing, however, the only emotion that I felt was angst. Can I assume from your avatar and Clara Schumann quote that you're female? If so you're a wild a crazy girl!

Yes, I understand the concept of minimalism and I do sometimes try to incorporate some of the techniques in my music. I agree that sometimes the repetition may get tedious in some parts. I might look at revising the work later. The composition is freely atonal, and no I'm not female but thanks for that last compliment!