1 / 42
0:00/0:00
Small Ensemble
2023
Bass Clarinet
Cello
Clarinet
Flute
Piano
Tam-Tam
Unpitched Percussion
Viola
Violin
- Program Notes
- A distorted, but identifiably American folk-melody is taken through several miniature “variations”, however these variations are unrelated except in small amounts of thematic material. Few of these ideas are allowed to fully develop, which may leave the listener with a feeling of unfulfilled potential. This sense is deliberate, as the term “ A Horse of a Different Color” denotes things that are completely unrelated, or being only related through an incidental circumstance. In this piece I use this term to compare, or rather contrast, through treatment of musical material, the ideal of the “American Dream” to the reality of the political and economic circumstances found in the United States. I hold in comparison to the socio-economic realities of the present, the American Dream is A Horse of a Different Color, related incidentally but being unrelated to reality. The aspect of the Dream comes from the double cruelty of the current situation, we are subject to the current state of affairs, yet hope for an ideal that has yet to be achieved. The unfinished miniature “variations'' relate to our personal and national histories of unfilled potentials. The full melody is heard at the beginning and the end, hinting perhaps “This is not where we want to be, but we are here, let’s try to make the most of it.”
- Recording Notes
- Workshopped by Nat28 in Spring 2023
- Performer Credits
- Nat 28