Commissioned by Ivan Ilic

Premiere:
10/5/07 Welsh Museum of Modern Art,
Machynlleth, Wales

Ivan Ilic, piano

Duration: 8-9'

Program Note:

In Afterglow, the player’s attunement to the resonance of the strings is meant to draw the audience into an intimate realm of listening. Each sound is to be reveled in: its essence, and the lingering pleasure that it produces. Variation of attacks and sustains allows for excitation of different parts of the strings’ spectra, and each musical element has its own unique vibration. The beauty of the afterglow of the hammer hitting the string is central to the musical experience. To help bring it forth, the score includes suggestions on rests and repetitions and on interpretations of each figure. However, the performer is guided by their experience of the resonance of a particular instrument in a particular space in shaping the music so that it is fully animate in each of its manifestations.