Beyond Shadows (2008)
for clarinet/bass cl, cello, percussion and piano (2008)
Composed for the Stony Brook Chamber Players
Duration: 11 min. 30 sec.
In writing Beyond Shadows, I was drawn to the combination of clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), cello, piano and percussion for its wide range of rich and complex timbres. The dark, ominous-sounding quality of the ensemble’s lower register in particular inspired me to base the piece around the idea of fears and phobias.
The work features a range of colours and gestures for which the ensemble is particularly well-suited: quiet, fast scuttling and whispering lines, dark low registers, and percussive scrapes contrasted by high, eerie harmonics and sighing pitch bends. Much of the one-movement work is hushed and suppressed, with scattered eruptions into flurries of activity. Fragments of a theme appear throughout, gradually expanding into a complete melody in a final coda section. Even this lyrical element, however, has an unsettled, manic quality, and though the ending fades to a quiet close, it remains unresolved and tinged with dark undertones.
Beyond Shadows was written for the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players.