for flute, vibraphone, piano & cello (2015 version)
or flute, percussion, celesta & cello (2013 version)
duration: 17’

Score (2015 version) (PDF)

Winner of the nief-norf Summer Festival 2016 International Call for Scores
2013 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards finalist

MOVEMENTS

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PROGRAM NOTE

Seven Songs is a re-arrangement/re-conception of a piece I wrote in 2011, originally scored for soprano sax, acoustic guitar, harp and percussion. In that original version, each of the seven movements really was like a song, with a simple melody, accompaniment or motive.

This new version retains many of the features of the old, including the order of the movements, the general structure of the piece, and the simplified harmonic language. But it distills and fractures the melodies and rhythms of the original: sometimes that means greater rhythmic detail and complexity, sometimes it means creating different ways of playing together, and sometimes it means eliminating everything from a movement except one small gesture, and exploring that gesture in much greater detail. The resultant set of songs is, hopefully, still emotionally direct and clear, but also freer, more elusive and continuously transforming. The piece now seems to be more like a set of spaces or empty rooms than a set of songs, each movement opening up onto the next space, the light slowly changing.

Originally written for Performance 20/20, the performance honors program at The Hartt School and premiered on May 1, 2011 at The Hartt School, West Hartford, Connecticut. Revised and reworked version written for and premiered by the I/O Ensemble on January 11, 2013 at I/O Fest 2013 at the ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williamstown, Massachusetts. 2015 edition arranged for the nief-norf Summer Festival 2016 and premiered on June 14, 2016 at the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Knoxville, Tennessee.

PERFORMANCES

May 1, 2011, The Hartt School, West Hartford, CT. Mallory Kokus, saxophone; James Hart, guitar; Haley Hewitt, harp; Sayun Chang, percussion.
January 11, 2013, ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williamstown, MA. Orlando Cela, flute; Matthew Gold, percussion; Brian Simalchik, celesta; David Kealhofer, cello.
June 14, 2016, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Knoxville, Tennessee. Performance fellows of the nief-nor Summer Festival (Yoshi Weinberg, flute; Aaron Gochberg, vibraphone; Daniel Schriener, piano; Sophie Chang, cello).