Shroud (2015)

about

The idea of Shroud was inspired by Amaranta, a character from Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude who was ordered by Death to sew her own shroud. Amaranta is visited by an elderly woman dressed in blue one day: "Death did not tell her when she was going to die … but she [Amaranta] was told that she would die without pain, fear, or bitterness at dusk on the day that she finished it." In order to put o the inevitable, she attempts to make her shroud as intricate as possible, even spinning her own thread in order to "waste as much time as possible." The image of weaving, or sewing, suggests an abundance of musical material and I imagine each instrument in the string trio as a different thread, creating an intricate, beautiful, but solemn, musical fabric.

Commissioned by Andronica Trio.

instrumentation

Violin, Viola, Cello

duration

ca. 8 minutes

performances

August 6, 2018

The Hubbard Quartet in Tanglewood, St. Ann Catholic Church, Lenox, MA

The Hubbard Quartet: Klaudia Szlachta – violin, Laura Manko Sahin – viola, Hyun Min Lee – cello

February 17, 2018

The Hubbard Quartet in San Francisco, Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA

The Hubbard Quartet: Klaudia Szlachta – violin, Laura Manko Sahin – viola, Hyun Min Lee – cello

February 11, 2017

Verdant Vibes Benefit Concert, Music Mansion, Providence, RI

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks – violin, Hannah Ross – viola, Megan Koch – cello

January 16, 2016*

Seventh Avenue Performances, Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA

Andronica Trio: Gen Micheletti – violin, Elyse Ader – viola, Jeff Li – cello

*Indicates a world premiere