Between the Dark and Daylight for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano

From the Publisher

I am deeply indebted to Ursula Krummel for commissioning this work and to Mark Carlson, Music Director of Pacific Serenades, for the wonderful opportunity to compose this work for his award-winning chamber music series. In preparation for composing Between the dark and daylight, I listened to Cds of lullabies and nursery songs from around the world. Besides the universality of the message, I was fascinated to find that at the most basic level, the musical intervals found in the earliest children’s songs are very similar. When a child cries out to its mother, it uses the downward minor third to cry Mama. Those notes, (I think of G for Good, E for Earth) recur throughout the entire work. The work, scored for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp, is in three sections (or movements) although I think of it as through composed. The first section, Nightdreams, begins with the descending minor third interval played by the viola (I love inner voices) and builds as each instrument enters to a dramatic high pitch. It then begins to move through a kaleidoscope of cultures. A pentatonic scale has the feeling of Chinese voices; tango rhythms appear to take the listener to South American countries; snippets of other cultures take shape and meld into the next. The second section, Lullaby, is a gentle song featuring the voices of the individual instruments. As my former musical life included being a singer, I ask myself if each musical line can be sung and if so, then it follows that it should sound good on an instrument. Although I wrote the notes, the shape and intention of the music can only come to life through the collaborative process of the musicians interpreting what I have written and to that end, I am extremely fortunate to have such marvelous musicians premiering my work. The third and final section, Daydreams, begins again with the minor third interval and weaves through a playful variety of children’s tunes from European countries. There’s even a bit of Brahms lullaby thrown in. It will be fun to see how many tunes the audience can recognize as they fly by. Composing this work surprised me as it progressed. I thought it would be a serious statement on the future that looms for our children’s children. As it turned out, there is a great deal of hope and frivolity. Go figure! By the way, sometimes titles of pieces come easily (that’s when the piece seems to “write itself”). Other times, there is angst over what the title should be. That was the case with this piece until I remembered that I had sung and recorded a beautiful Charles Ives song titled “The Children’s Hour’, and the first line of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is, “Beyond the dark and the daylight”.

Performance duration (approx): 18'00

Movements

1. Nightdreams
2. Lullaby
3. Daydreams

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Flute
• Part 2: Bb Clarinet
• Part 3: Violin
• Part 4: Cello
• Part 5: Piano