Definitive album version
Flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, drum set.
Optional electronics / sound design.
Recorded on Calibrating Friction (2023).
Available concert version
Flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion (one player: crotales, vibraphone, suspended cymbal, kick drum). Conductor recommended, separate from the six instrumental players.
Listen
Explore / buy the album on Bandcamp ↗︎
Scores & Performance Materials
This album arrangement is included in Calibrating Friction: The Album in Full Score (Just a Theory Press, 2026).
Original concert version — program note
“It is often when night looks darkest, it is often before the fever breaks that one senses the gathering momentum for change, when one feels that resurrection of hope in the midst of despair and apathy.” —Hillary Clinton
Unrelent is an expression of the turbulent emotional/psychological state I've witnessed around me – and experienced myself – in response to recent political developments in the USA. Having recently become a citizen under President Obama's tenure, the 2016 presidential election felt like a profound betrayal of the principles that brought me to this country in the first place. Recalling the near-paralysis many of us were experiencing on the morning of November 9, and the incredible displays of solidarity in response to the various political and humanitarian crises that have arisen since then, composing this work was an exercise in catharsis. —HS (www.hstafylakis.com)
Premiere
Premiered April 6, 2017 by Contemporaneous at the DiMenna Center in New York City.