Polemics was written in the spring of 1997 for pianist Max Midroit, who has performed it in concert several times, including a performance at the 1999 Society of Composers National Conference. Mr. Midroit's recording of Polemics is available on the CRI compact disc eXchange Latin America (CRI CD 848), part of that label's Music at the Crossroads series. The CRI catalogue has been acquired by New World Records. The piece has also been performed by Aoi Sakaue at the Inter College Computer Music Festival in Japan, and by Dr. Madeline Williamson in Arizona.

Polemics is a multilevel exchange among various aspects of the acoustic characteristics of the piano (such as the properties of sustained tones), with their electronic counterpart on the tape.  These acoustic qualities complement, modulate, and transform each other's gestures throughout the work, in ways that are at times complementary and at times antagonistic.

The tape part was created through electronic synthesis of wave forms taken from the components of the piano sound itself.  These wave forms include those of the hammer striking the strings at different registers, which were used to build the non-pitched sounds.  The pitched sounds were constructed from the wave forms of the attack, decay, and sustain portions of piano tones at different dynamic levels.

Many segments of the electronic part were created by taking passages which occur earlier in the piece and shortening their duration by a high percentage (80 % and above). As the computer performs these passages at a very high speed, they are transformed into completely new events. These recycled ideas are then coupled with the piano part to produce complete, interlocked phrases.