Rhapsodies

2023

For Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Trombone, Violin, Bass, and Percussion
Duration: 10 minutes

Dr. Armand Hall approached me about doing a project together in summer 2022. The new work was to be in celebration of 10 years of marriage to his wife, Dr. Leah McGray. While conceptualizing the work, I thought back to my own wedding, wedding vows, and the journey upon which my wife and I embarked. The word “rhapsody,” stuck in my mind, became the launching point for this work. A rhapsody, in music, generally refers to a single-movement composition that does not have an easily recognized form, but rhapsodies are often sonically evocative pieces and sprawling auditory journeys that are full of vivid color – something I think can also be found in marriage. Marriage can be an expansive voyage with the highest of highs and also a few lows. But it easily lives up to another meaning of the word “rhapsody”: An expression or state of euphoria, rapture, passion, delight, and/or ecstasy. This work, in two movements (or separate “rhapsodies”), considers the journey through two of these states: 1) Euphoria and 2) Ecstatic. 

Commissioned by Armand Hall
“to Leah in honor of our tenth anniversary - For Us, For Them.”