these intervals matter (2020)
Solo soprano, crystal glasses, and gravel
Duration: 6’
Commissioned by Nola Richardson
Premiere recording by Stephanie Lamprea
Technical requirements: this piece may be performed by soprano alone or as a soprano/percussion duet. Five (5) crystal glasses need to be tuned to the following pitches: Db5, Eb5, F5, Ab5, Bb5.
The text is derived from a black-out poetry exercise of E.M. Forster's 1938 essay, What I Believe. This piece is written for and dedicated to soprano Nola Richardson.
I do not believe in this,
They want belief they cannot swallow.
My temple stands.
Where do I start?
Not solid, split and shattered,
I don’t know what I am like.
For the purpose of living one has to assume
A little order
Is not a matter of contract,
The heart signs no documents.
They have insisted on behaving creatively
For the sake of doing it,
We had better follow.
In search of refuge,
An aristocracy of the sensitive;
There is a secret understanding between them when they meet
Their bodies are the instruments through which
They slip through
Their temple is the holiness of the Heart’s affections,
Their kingdom is the wide-open world,
The greater the darkness, the brighter shine the little lights, signaling:
“how are you?”
The invincible army!
“Come along!”
Shut Force into its box, and so gain the universe
Naked I came
Naked I go
I am naked under my shirt, whatever its color.