(2017)
Flight * Timelessness * Questions * Pop song * Mad scene * Coda
Instrumentation: Oboe, two violins, viola, cello
Duration: 14:30
Note
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A working title for this piece employed the phrase ‘love progression,’ an idea that concerns one of the handful of common four-chord progressions on which a million and a half pop songs are based. I’m curious about the idea of cultural common currency, and also about the idea that the harmonic element is simply a given pattern in some songs. I wanted to know what would happen if I played around with—composed with—such a progression. Because why not? Common currency, my currency, history’s currency; the mix of it. Maybe it’s about wanting to participate, or assume some small piece of ownership, in connection with what I hear in songs around me most days. And the idea of a love progression turns out to extend further in the direction of a narrative, illustrating—perhaps—the progression of a love affair that moves from heady, initial flight through stages of disbelief, potential conflict, blind certainty, drama, and some kind of resolve.
Performance history: Love Story in Six Parts was commissioned by Peggy Pearson and Winsor Music and premiered by Peggy Pearson and the Daedalus Quartet in Philadelphia and in Brookline, MA.