Hear for six voices, trombone and electronics
I was commissioned by the Robb Trust in early 2020 to compose a new work based on recordings from the Robb Musical Archive, to be premièred in Robb Symposium in the Spring of 2021. The idea of using the archive as a basis for a new work immediately appealed to me, as my compositional practice generally consists of "interpreting" works from the past based on recordings. As I listened to the works of the Robb Musical Archive, I became particularly interested in the works catalogued as "Cowboy songs"; that became my first working title for the composition.
Shortly after I was commissioned, the pandemic started, and my own experiences of illness and loss began to influence my "reading" of these works. One song in particular emerged as the central focus of the composition: Oh bury me not on the lone prairie, which recounts the dying words of a young cowboy, pleading to be buried at home – a request which is denied, as he is buried there and then. The tone of the plaint reminded me of a work by Henry Purcell, Hear my prayer, and so I decided to combine these two works in my reading, deriving aspects of melody and text from each one, and searching for intersections between them.
The imagery of the electronic processing therefore intentionally calls up aspects of the pandemic, with its use of masks and tubing.
Hear is dedicated to Will Lang and the members of Ekmeles Ensemble, with gratitude to the Robb Trust for the access to the archive and the opportunity to engage with this work, and many thanks as well to Karola Obermueller, Peter Gilbert, and everyone else who made this première possible.
Hear
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