Program Note

In the first movement, the cello sings a lyric song of mourning accompanied by the piano with both dirge-like plodding and declamatory recitative-like gestures. Beginning with a canon in inversion between piano and cello, the lament soon breaks out in anger and grief, reaching a climax slightly before the midpoint of the movement. The second half is more reflective, mature, wise, only occassionally giving in to bursts of intense emotion.

In the second movment, I wanted to achieve a feeling of weightlessness, with the music constantly being pulled forward, as if in some kind of slipstream. In contrast to the heavily grounded Lament, this movement strives to break free from its bounds.

Composed for Carter Enyeart and Jo Boatright, of Voices of Change. Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the University of North Texas.

Recording

Centaur CRC 2300   Sonatas for Cello and Piano
Carter Enyeart, Cello; Adam Wodnicki, Piano