On Solace

Program Note

 

It isn’t necessarily unusual for a composer, writer, or artist to use their art to reflect on the process of grief and the many forms that it can take. While these pieces are often very moving and powerful statements, something that I find that is too often overlooked is the role that the people surrounding an individual can play in helping to navigate their own healing process. From my experience dealing with grief, it is very easy to feel out of control, overwhelmed, and even helpless, but it was always the people around me—friends, family, and colleagues—that helped to provide the clarity and support needed to overcome these feelings. To truly acknowledge the powerful role that these people can have in the process of grief, I knew I wanted to find a way to musically describe healing as a reaction to the consolation that loved ones can provide in times of distress. 

 

The piece begins with a dense texture that is gradually constructed as each member of the quartet starts playing. The timing and rhythm of much of the music in this section is completely improvised, resulting in a mesh of sound that has no clear organization to the audience. However, as the piece progresses and its main melodic material is presented, the music becomes increasingly structured, gradually gaining a sense of clarity. This juxtaposition between organized and disorganized sound is my reflection on the effect that solace can have on the complex process of healing. Although the music at this point is now more organized than it was at the start, negative emotions are continually explored alongside more positive ones, building to a painfully climactic moment where the music’s tension reaches its peak. Gradually, this tension is released and the piece ends with nearly all members of the quartet playing together except for the violist who returns to the improvisatory figures of the opening—the lack of clarity at the start of the piece now only a distant memory.

 

Commissioned by

J Hatcher​

​

Duration

8'

​