A Song About Unity

Details:
for String Quartet
10 minutes

Created under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. Written for and premiered by the Del Sol String Quartet, June 27, 2020.

About the work:
A slowly undulating cluster rocks back and forth in near silence; the sound of a buried tension simmering to the surface, the parts moving as a whole like an ocean that can’t be tamed. The tension swells until the bubble bursts. The chaos that ensues is the sound of frustration, anger, panic, and resentment. It has no direction other than forward. Bodies in motion careen toward an inevitable future in discordant harmony. The cogs in the machine churn and grind their way forward, tossing out false promises and empty portraits of prosperity. They sing the song of unity, but it’s forced, hollow. The melody lingers in our ears—diversity, inclusion, equality—but it never lasts. We return to the point from which we began, and the tension builds.