for speaking pianist or piano and reader
duration: 5’

PROGRAM NOTE

“A Friend’s Umbrella” was my first attempt at marrying notated music and spoken text. It was also my first time working with the poetry of Lawrence Raab; in this case, setting his poem “A Friend’s Umbrella” from his 2009 collection The History of Forgetting.

Unlike my later work with Lawrence Raab’s poetry (like Forgetting Pieces), this piece is for a live speaker rather than pre-recorded speech (performed either by the pianist or an additional speaker). As such, the musical challenge was writing a score that was controlled but also flexible enough to allow for variations in timing in the spoken text.

The driving impulse of this project, and my subsequent poetry and piano projects, is to create a subtle and complex interplay between the textual meaning and the music underscoring; or to create a subtle musical shadow that, hopefully, draws attention to the tone and meaning of the text. The simple piano writing in this piece has a kind of deliberate blankness to it; a reflection, I think, of my desire to create something where the text is the focus and the music clearly plays a supporting role.

Poetry by Lawrence Raab, from his collection ‘The History of Forgetting.’ Used with kind permission of the author.

PERFORMANCES

May 14, 2010, Chapin Hall Courtyard, Williamstown, MA. Brian Simalchik, piano; Lawrence Raab, speaker.