Program Note:
Night Voyages is a single movement for piano and marimba/vibraphone combination in three clear sections lasting about 14 minutes. Various works of art depicting insomnia and sleep have always fascinated me, from Elliott Carter’s piano solo Night Fantasies to James Joyce’s book Finnegans Wake. As an insomniac myself I know too well the experience of fitful sleep, the techniques to rest one’s mind to get to sleep, and the things that harangue the process. The chiming unisons that open and permeate Night Voyages should be interpreted by each listener differently, but for me they are that certain thing that keeps one awake and that must be resolved before moving on to sleep. An obsessive thought, an actual sound indoors or outdoors, even a light. Throughout the “voyages” of the mind on this nocturnal journey this unison idea metamorphoses in its own right, becoming melodic, or working into the fabric of its surroundings. It never really goes away, but becomes accepted. The three sections themselves are contrasting musical journeys, each a little shorter than the one before, each taking a different approach to this over-riding concept of uninvited repetition.
Piano and Percussion (5-octave Marimba and Vibraphone)
Note: Notation and PDF for both players is formatted to 11 x 14 inches (portrait)
Night Voyages
Piano and Percussion (5-octave Marimba and Vibraphone)
Note: Notation and PDF for both players is formatted to 11 x 14 inches (portrait)