Agak-Agak: For Balinese Gamelan, violin, contrabass, accordion, and electronic sounds

Agak-Agak is a Southeast Asian method of cooking that is not concerned with specific ingredient measurements. Rather, ingredients are freely added by anyone helping to prepare the meal. This work aims to emulate this idea by blending elements of Balinese Gamelan with western chamber music. A unifying force throughout is the presence of some wide ranging electronic instruments that are capable of producing effects similar to both musical cultures.; The piece consists of five movements that all stem from ambient and quasi-minimalist ideas. Each section exhausts its musical elements before transitioning into the next. It is possible for each of the movements to stand on their own, but the work gains much strength from the connections between them. These fifteen minutes of music contains common features of Balinese music such as repeated gong cycles, kotekan (interlocking melodies), and kebyar style simultaneous rhythmic flourishes of instruments in unison. Western concepts such as canon, passacaglia, and word painting create a unique dash of musical worlds.