Andrew Mark Sauerwein

This music is deliberately unruly: the initial twelve-chord ground recurs fifteen times, supporting a civil, reserved melody which, before long, turns precocious and contrary.  The accompaniment, accordingly, grows irritable and irregular, foiling the melody's perverse wit.  The two arrive on uneasy but peaceful terms before the coda, which provides a cryptic summary of the chaconne progression as if to ask, "What just happened?"

Ciaccona Enigmata was composed for percussionist Jason Mathena, who commissioned a series of marimba solos by Mississippi composers.