PROGRAM

"Boris Kerner" by Caroline Shaw​

for cello + flower pots

premiered by New Morse Code in 2012

duration: 8 minutes

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Program notes from Caroline Shaw:

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Boris S. Kerner lives in Stuttgart and is the author of Introduction to Modern Traffic Flow Theory and Control: The Long Road to Three-Phase Traffic Theory. Many thanks to Hannah and Mike of the brilliant duo New Morse Code for working with me along the way with this piece, which is another in a series of expositions on the curious phrase “the detail of the pattern is movement”.

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"Old Survivor" by Michael Maiorana​

for double bass + open instrumentation

written for Jason Wells in 2021

duration: 13 minutes

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Program notes from Michael Maiorana:​
 

This piece is about a specific tree in Dr. Aurelia Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, in California.  This tree is named Old Survivor, and it’s about 470 years old.  It’s the last remaining old-growth redwood in the Oakland Hills, although that’s not due to it being particularly long-lived; redwoods can live between 1200-1800 years.  The area was logged heavily from 1845-1860, then again from 1906-1916, removing all old-growth redwoods from the Oakland Hills except Old Survivor.  It's possible this specific tree wasn’t cut down because it’s on a particularly steep and rocky slope, and wouldn’t have been profitable to log.  The land for the park was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1916 to preserve the remaining redwoods in the area.

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"Hortensia" by Christos Rafalides​

for double bass + vibraphone

written in 2012

duration: 10 minutes

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Program notes:​
 

Hortensia by Christos Rafalides is a duet written for vibraphone and double bass. This piece is a demonstration of independence concept with the right hand playing an ostinato while the left hand and the acoustic bass play the melody. Each section of this piece has a different musical color from Latin to Middle Eastern to Western harmonies.

"Glimmer" by Shruthi Rajasekar​

for double bass

composed in 2022

duration: 6 minutes

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Program notes from Shruthi Rajasekar:​
 

Glimmer is the possibility revealed in a sliver of light. Drawing from the rich Carnatic raga Kalyani, this piece is the experience of glimpsing infinity within even the smallest of movements. Commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music (London, UK), from a collection of 200 solo pieces written to celebrate the bicentenary of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022

"The Connection" by James Rolfe

Text by Daniil Kharms (1905-1942)

for marimba soloist who also narrates

composed in 2001

duration: 10 minutes

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Program notes from James Rolfe:​
 

The Connection features a text which is rhythmically recited by the performer, consisting of a two-page letter in twenty segments, entitled “The Connection,” by the Russian surrealist writer Daniil Kharms (1905-1942). This text also generates the music, with its metric patterns being translated to rhythms, and vowel sounds to pitches. In keeping with the shaggy-dog trajectory of the letter, however, these translations are arbitrary and non- linear, and so the music, rather than acting as an accompaniment or a mirror image, becomes an independent entity, a kind of obligato to the text, unfolding with its own loopy logic.

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"Legal Highs" by David P. Jones

for marimolin (violin & marimba)

composed in 1988

duration: 12 minutes

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Program notes:​
 

First Prize Winner in the 1988 Marimolin Composition Competition, Legal Highs by David P. Jones is a composition in three movements: Mr. Coffee, Menthology, and Sweet Thing.

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