Program Note:
The morning I read Claire Schwartz’s “Lecture on the History of the House” in January 2021’s Poetry Magazine, I immediately heard the music that lies under the text. It is sharp and quirky, it has movement and bounce. The first time I read “b b b b b b b b b b” I could hear a clarinet articulating the same pitch over and over. When it returns on the next page, it seems to fade away “b b b b b b b b b b” I heard that same clarinet with the same pitch going through a decrescendo. There are multiple choice questions that imply micro-forms and flickers of themes that come back as a whisper and as a scream. The most impactful lines for the work as a whole are:
“the alphabet: ruin of silence
The only way back: through language, language
destroying the silence. The shadow language casts
is silence. No language, no shadow. No know, no
no no no no no no.”
the alphabet: ruin of silence ties to several of my other works: Arguments for solo piano, which uses logical argument forms to create micro-forms in music, and Anyone Lived for reed trio based on the poetry of e.e. cummings. These works tie small formal ideas together in a collage of colors and timbres. The work was commissioned by Paradise Winds and was premiered at the International Double Reed Society’s 50th anniversary conference in Boulder, Colorado in 2022.
“the alphabet: ruin of silence
The only way back: through language, language
destroying the silence. The shadow language casts
is silence. No language, no shadow. No know, no
no no no no no no.”
the alphabet: ruin of silence ties to several of my other works: Arguments for solo piano, which uses logical argument forms to create micro-forms in music, and Anyone Lived for reed trio based on the poetry of e.e. cummings. These works tie small formal ideas together in a collage of colors and timbres. The work was commissioned by Paradise Winds and was premiered at the International Double Reed Society’s 50th anniversary conference in Boulder, Colorado in 2022.
Reproduction Notice:
This program note may be freely reproduced in concert programs, provided that proper credit is given to the composer.
This program note may be freely reproduced in concert programs, provided that proper credit is given to the composer.