I. Vorpal Blade	[QuickTime Clip]
II. Snicker-Snack!	[QuickTime Clip]

The Double Edge served as my dissertation for graduation from the doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly afterwards, in 1994, it was selected as the grand prize winner of an international contest in Tarragona, Spain. This resulted in its premiere by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra the following year. The "Snicker-Snack!" movement was subsequently performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1998. The titles derive more from my state of mind at the time of writing the piece than from any specific musical references. Finishing a graduate program is both exhilarating and frightening, because one chapter is so obviously closing while the next chapter remains murky and uncertain. To clarify these ideas, the score contains an inscription, which follows. One must not infer from the movement titles an elaborate program based on Lewis Carroll's poem, Jabberwocky. This is true despite the bravura trumpet fanfare at bar 356 that could represent the sally forth to discover the quarry, and despite the concluding bars that might well be the ultimate death duel: vorpal sword and courage arrayed against the slavering jaws of the Beast. Rather than serving Carroll, the piece subverts his imagery to its own ends. Time operates as a razor in our lives, constantly shaving away possibilities from them. The razor is two-edged, because whether we languish in indecision and inaction or energetically pursue our chosen destinies, time's blade cuts away the possibilities with equal force and vigor. In Carroll's terms, whether the beamish boy stands in uffish thought by the Tumtum tree or seeks far and wide the manxsome foe, one day he will surely face the flaming eyes of the Jabberwock. Oddly, the original Tenniel illustration portrays the monster wearing the waistcoat and spats of a Victorian gentleman, suggesting that in every day of our lives we all must face the burbling brute. Ultimately, regardless of who wins the battle, time is the victor. Whether the hero slays the dragon or the dragon devours the hero, the fate of both is sealed. Time's blade has shaved away one of the two possibilities along with all of its consequent possibilities. Time is the vorpal sword itself: difficult to handle and dangerous to friend and foe alike. It is the means by which the hero achieves his destiny for good or ill, and the quality of that destiny depends in large part on the skill with which he wields it.

Tenniel Illustration