Dark Glasses was written in Spring, 1988, at a time when I was preoccupied by the deaths of composers Morton Feldman and Claude Vivier. The title is a metaphor for mourning, and expresses the paradox of concealing one's eyes while revealing the concealment of one's pain. The expression of grief in a work of art is a concept which has always been difficult for me; when does art stop and therapy begin?

Structurally, the music is based on the harmonic spectra of the tuned gongs which are also central to defining the work's overall metre and timbre. Dark Glasses is perhaps a slow dance which gradually modulates from 15/8 to 13/8.

Royalties from all performances and broadcasts of Dark Glasses are donated in perpetuity to McLaren House, Vancouver, and Casey House Hospice in Toronto, hospices for persons with AIDS. Dark Glasses was commissioned by ARRAYMUSIC through the Canada Council.