Four Poems (2010)
chamber piece for flute, viola, and percussion
or for flute, viola, and piano
Duration: 16:00
I. Sonnet - 2:00
II. Limerick - 1:00
III. Haiku - 5:00
IV. Free Verse - 8:00
or for flute, viola, and piano
Duration: 16:00
I. Sonnet - 2:00
II. Limerick - 1:00
III. Haiku - 5:00
IV. Free Verse - 8:00
Notes and Recording info
Recorded at the premiere performance of the flute/viola/piano version in the Perceptions recital on 4 June, 2010 at the Artist's Inn Residence in Washington, DC.
Cristina Verderese, flute
Henry Valoris, viola
Roc Lee, piano
Michael Oberhauser, conductor
I wrote Haiku first, at the urging of my composition teacher Dr. Andrew Earle Simpson, to round out my portfolio a bit more. While I was at Catholic University I had written mostly vocal music, so I needed to do a little more instrumental music to round out my resume. Haiku was premiered April 3, 2009 with Sophia Musleh on flute, Julian Rieder on percussion, and Daniel McCarthy on viola. I liked how it came out, so I decided to write a few other movements to go with it.
When all four movements were finished in the original flute/viola/percussion arrangement, I decided to set up a performance. The particular space for the "Perceptions" recital that my friends Kyle Gullings, Roc Lee, and I set up (a bed and breakfast) was not particularly conducive to bringing in a vibraphone, but the space did have a nice piano. I arranged Haiku and Free Verse for flute/viola/piano for that occasion. I may go back and arrange Sonnet and Limerick for the same instruments, but the percussion parts in those are slightly more idiomatic.
Cristina Verderese, flute
Henry Valoris, viola
Roc Lee, piano
Michael Oberhauser, conductor
I wrote Haiku first, at the urging of my composition teacher Dr. Andrew Earle Simpson, to round out my portfolio a bit more. While I was at Catholic University I had written mostly vocal music, so I needed to do a little more instrumental music to round out my resume. Haiku was premiered April 3, 2009 with Sophia Musleh on flute, Julian Rieder on percussion, and Daniel McCarthy on viola. I liked how it came out, so I decided to write a few other movements to go with it.
When all four movements were finished in the original flute/viola/percussion arrangement, I decided to set up a performance. The particular space for the "Perceptions" recital that my friends Kyle Gullings, Roc Lee, and I set up (a bed and breakfast) was not particularly conducive to bringing in a vibraphone, but the space did have a nice piano. I arranged Haiku and Free Verse for flute/viola/piano for that occasion. I may go back and arrange Sonnet and Limerick for the same instruments, but the percussion parts in those are slightly more idiomatic.
I. Sonnet
II. Limerick
III. Haiku
I mapped out this piece to have a tertiary form with the basic 5:7:5 ratio, with the whole piece being around 5 minutes. These large sections are differentiated by tempo. Within each section there's another ABA' in a 5:7:5 ratio, but these mini-sections are separated by thematic material and instrumentation. Some of this formal set-up was removed, though, when I was editing the piece - I sacrificed the form a little bit here and there for musicality purposes. What I ended up with is a largely atmospheric, meditative piece.
IV. Free Verse
For this piece, I picked a handful of poems that I liked, arranged them in an order that seemed to be thematically pleasing, and set them as if it were vocal music - but set them for the instruments instead. The intention was to have very little transitional material between "songs." When I was finished, I edited the entire piece to make it more musical, as I did with Haiku. This piece ended up being rather long, but I think it works because of the several different moods in this movement. It feels like several movements in itself, just with no pause between them.