meridian — alto flute, english horn, clarinet, harp, and viola (2022)
Commissioned by the Merian Ensemble with the generous support of Gretchen Nagy and Allan Sandlin, and supported in part by the Bogliasco Foundation with the generous support of the Edward T. Cone Special Fellowship in Music
Bogliasco, December 2022. Photo by Lanzilotti
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717)—namesake of the Merian Ensemble, who commissioned this work—was a Botanical & Natural History Illustrator who is famous for her groundbreaking observations and illustrations of metamorphosis. The musical lines in this piece go through their own metamorphoses: whether of timbral shift, gestural evolution, or gradual unraveling of harmonic material into melodies.
Looking out onto the sea, one sees the color change and the shapes of the reflection morph throughout the day—the colors underwater become the most vivid at the sun’s meridian or solar noon. Currents create textural patterns, in turn catching the light in beams. The sea itself recalls journeys (there is a subtle reference to Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Nausicca” from Penelope). Descriptive texts throughout quote Rumi’s poem “Quietness,” including the final line, “the speechless full moon comes out now.”
duration 7’
Past Performances
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 — Merian Ensemble, the Schwartz Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Monday, March 27, 2023 — Merian Ensemble, World Premiere, Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, GA
