Song for soprano and cello

(PDF download)

Inspired by the music of Lou Harrison, with its seemingly effortless simplicity and unabashed lyricism, this piece explores Harrison's frequent use of what he called "melodicles:" miniature melodies structured out of only a few notes that are then elaborated through permutation techniques. Both the text and music are, by turns and degrees, meditative and ecstatic exercises in variation.

Harrison once quipped, "The Europeans are so greedy; they need to have all twelve notes. I want to have only five, but own them completely." Following in his footsteps, this piece, in its unfolding, uses only seven.

INSTRUMENTATION: soprano, cello

DURATION: 4:30

PAGES: 6

WORLD PREMIERE: March 6th, 2017 with Guerilla Composers Guild at the Center for New Music in San Francisco, CA. Winnie Nieh, soprano; Matt Schwede, cello