Loneliness
Voice, Trumpet and Piano (3:19) - January 2000
Loneliness
(MIDI)
Commentary
Commissioned by two friends for a far-future recital (that never quite happened), this piece was written over Winter Break 1999-2000. It features interplay between all three instruments, with the vocalist ultimately alone with the piano. The work is based on a poem:
Loneliness by Katherine Mansfield 1911NOW it is Loneliness who comes at night
Instead of Sleep, to sit beside my bed.
Like a tired child I lie and wait her tread,
I watch her softly blowing out the light.
Motionless sitting, neither left or right
She turns, and weary, weary droops her head.
She, too, is old; she, too, has fought the fight.
So, with the laurel she is garlanded.
Through the sad dark the slowly ebbing tide
Breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied.
A strange wind flows... then silence. I am fain
To turn to Loneliness, to take her hand,
Cling to her, waiting, till the barren land
Fills with the dreadful monotone of rain.
Unintentionally, I ended up with a very Latin-sounding bass line in the left hand of the piano part. For more commentary on this piece, please see the recital program in the "Other Commentary" section.