I wrote “Clouds” in the spring and summer of 2020.  Nina Olsen had asked for a piece for this ensemble because she felt like it is an effective grouping of instruments that has very little repertoire.  I incorporated sketches from early in 2020 when I was attempting to compose textures for the piano that I had neither played nor heard before.  The title came after I wrote the piece, but it fits particularly well.  Much of the piano writing feels and sounds like water droplets suspended in the air, sometimes surrounding the listener as a fog, other times overhead morphing from one shape to another.  The melodic writing for the clarinet and viola also shift in focus in much the way that clouds shift from looking like one thing to another. This piece was funded by a MacPhail Commissioning Grant and I thank the granting committee and MacPhail for supporting my compositional endeavors.