Dilemma - OB/PN

Dilemma
for oboe and piano
by Clint Williams (b. 1985) - American composer

Composer's Notes:
Dilemma was inspired by a piece of artwork created by a close friend and aspiring artist Stephanie Comas. In 2011, I was shown the picture shown on the cover. “The marionette is a person being forced by the woman in the trees [representing society] to make other people happy. The person carries two masks: the mask on the left is one's true self, pressured to the point of burnout; the mask on the right is the fake smile that society demands for attention. Notice how it is slowly falling apart as time [represented by the hourglass on the left] is running out.”

Intrigued by what I saw, I challenged myself to compose music that would compliment this art. As the art is full of symbolism, the music follows suit. The polarized piano accompaniment represents the two masks respectively: the left hand is aggressively solid and somewhat fiery, whereas the right hand is flowing to the point of it seeming to fall apart. The Oboe represents the pressured person, as the melodic line weaves between the aggressive and flowing styles. Near the middle (during B section), the person (oboe) seems to break free from the bonds, only to be charmed back to conformity, thus continuing the dilemma.