home > compositions > keeping things whole
Keeping Things Whole (2004)
ensemble flute, clarinet, string quartet, bass, marimba, and piano
commissioned by Norfolk Chamber Music Festival
premièred June 26, 2004, Norfolk, CT
Keeping Things Whole is a non-programmatic journey through Mark Strand’s poem of the same title. I say “non-programmatic” because the text is used as an emotional point of departure rather than a formal guideline. Structurally, the piece is an arch-shaped passacaglia, with slower music framing a faster, climactic section. One of my goals was to keep the number of notes to a minimum, making for a very spare, transparent sound. This also provides the (unintentional) side benefit of making Keeping Things Whole relatively easy to play.
In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.- Mark Strand
Listen
Recorded 6/26/04 live at the Music Shed in Norfolk, CT.
Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble; Ransom Wilson, conductor.