Scattered Inheritance

Details:
for Voice, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Percussion
13 minutes

Text by Jeremy De La Rosa (adapted by Andrew M Rodriguez)
Visuals by Xuan

Commissioned by the Ad Astra Music Festival for their 2020 Summer festival.
Premiered virtually on July 18, 2020.

Commissioned by the Ad Astra Music Festival and intended for a virtual performance with individually isolated performers, Scattered Inheritance is a product of and for its time. Having been conceived only a couple months after the country shut down due to the pandemic, the energies and uncertainties of what the future entailed were embedded within the pages of this piece of music. The text is an adaptation of nine different poems by writer Jeremy De La Rosa. As part of the composition process I continuously read through Jeremy’s catalog and selected words and phrases that felt urgent to me in that moment. This intuitively driven process ensured that the piece would be an honest snapshot of the time of its creation. These fragments of poems were then arranged into three distinct sections that are performed without pause. In this virtual context, performers were not able to rely on their standard chamber music performance practices, nor would a conductor have been a reliable guide. Instead, the piece is designed for each performer to freely explore the material on each page without the strictures of barlines or meters. By design, the harmonies and counterpoint that occur are unique to the performance. I owe many thanks to the performers for their willingness to experiment, and their patience and trust in the process.

Voice - Tynan Davis
Flute - Tammy Evans Yonce
Clarinet - Kristin Pisano
Violin - Negar Afazel
Cello - Ben Cline
Percussion - Ryan Pearson
Piano - César Cañón

I: MY WARMTH, MY GAZE
My warmth, my gaze (my warmth, my gaze)
These days, sometimes, so many hours spent searching (my warmth, my gaze) (my words, my shape)
For years I’ve tried to find memories, searching (my warmth, my gaze) (my words, my shape)
Memories as recent as yesterday.
Memories as recent as a hundred years ago.
(my warmth, my gaze) (my only wish, distancing yourself)

II: I REMEMBER
I remember picking out carnations.
I knew you when you were my age now.
I’m trying to not lose myself in thought.
For years I’ve tried to find my way back.
I’ve passed you half a hundred times by now.
I’m trying to not remember.
I knew you when you were my age now.
I believe you.

III: DUST
Tabernacle in dust, this scattered inheritance signal mirrors flickering, distancing yourself
Tabernacle in dust, this scattered inheritance, crystalline glow, my warmth, my gaze
Tabernacle in dust, this scattered inheritance, neighbors I never knew, my only wish.
Tabernacle in dust, this scattered inheritance, myriad of me, becoming dust, before long.