Premiere performance of complete work by Longleash, Louisville Public Radio Performance Studio, Louisville, Kentucky, August 2022.
I. I should have known better
Recording by National Sawdust Ensemble (Miranda Cuckson, violin, Jeffrey Zeigler, cello, and Stephen Gosling, piano) at National Sawdust, NY, November 2020
II. so/than
Recording by Jacob Schafer, violin, Zan Berry, cello, and Baldwin Giang, keyboard, December 2020.
III. to be alone with you
Performance by Longleash (Pala Garcia, violin, John Popham, cello, and Julia den Boer, piano, August 2022).
NOTES:
songs after sufjan is, in part, an homage to the singer/songwriter/composer Sufjan Stevens. I found myself most intrigued with how Stevens's lyrics, often intensely lyrical, conflicted, and loaded with symbolism, are usually accompanied by music of simplicity and restraint. I wondered how this ambiguous combination of elements would be transformed if fragmented and cast as purely instrumental music. My piece for piano trio makes use of some of the musical material of Stevens's songs, such as translating their carefully orchestrated pop production into dreamy microtonal harmony and extended techniques, as a means to evoke both the intimacy and delicate affect of Stevens's sound worlds. Furthermore the ghosts of Stevens's lyrics, when re-contextualized against my own music, serve as a starting point for the unique emotional arc of my own work.
The first movement, "I should have known better," is a reference to the song "Should have known Better" from Stevens's 2017 album, Carrie and Lowell. Stevens's lyrics concern his grief over his mother's death, and the conflicted nature of their relationship, before an unexpected turn towards the light that his newborn niece brings into his life. My work, inspired by the drama of the lyrics, juxtaposes highly contrasting material based on chromaticism and 7 limit-just intonation.
The second movement, “so/than,” is a study in ambiguity. It functions both as an interlude between the outer movements as well as the emotional center of the entire work. It takes some veiled influence from Stevens “Fourth of July,” also from Carrie and Lowell.
The title of the third movement, "to be alone with you," is a reference to the eponymous song by Stevens, from his 2004 album Seven Swans. I found the lyrics of Stevens's song, which acknowledge the self-sacrifices required to be alone with someone and with God, especially relevant as I was making hard choices in my own personal life during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these times, to choose to be alone with someone brings both comfort and risk, companionship and awkwardness.
songs after sufjan is dedicated to my mother, Cam Ly, who passed away from cancer in November 2020 as I was writing the piece.