In its original form, Elegy is the second movement of my Duo Sonata for clarinet and alto saxophone, which was composed in late 2001 for saxophonist Timothy McAllister and clarinetist Alan Woy. I composed this movement in the span of about 2 hours on a Sunday in November that year. It was the first bit of music I composed after the terrible events of 9/11, two months earlier. It wasn’t until about 5 or 6 years ago that I began acknowledging that the Elegy might be a reaction to the events of that horrible and tragic day.
I like to think of Elegy now as an opportunity for listeners to use on their own terms: perhaps to remember a loved one lost – or just to simply listen.
At their request, I created a version of Elegy for Akropolis Reed Quintet in 2016. They recorded Elegy for my forthcoming album Light and Shadows, Waves and Time to be released on Navona Records on April 13, 2018.
Here is Akropolis Reed Quintet’s beautiful and moving performance taken from their Web Premiere Event.
Akropolis Reed Quintet’s Web Premiere Event, which took place on 27 September 2017 was preceded by a short interview with Matt Landy of Akropolis via Facebook Live. I had a little trouble connecting at the beginning, but after about three minutes, we finally managed to chat. We discussed Elegy in its original form and this new version for reed quintet, and discussed my upcoming album to be released in Spring 2018 on PARMA Recordings. I hope you enjoy this bit of insight!
Pre-order Light and Shadows, Waves and Time.
