Instrumentation: Horn, 2 violins, 2 Violas, Cello
First Performance: Robert Rearden, horn, and musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra and NSO Youth Fellowship. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Nov. 16, 2024. (3rd movement only)
Commissioned by Arco Collaborative for the Sounds of US Festival (Jennifer Koh, curator).
Duration: 11 minutes
I. Unfurling
II. Unthread, Rethread
III. Lullaby-Lament
(Partial premiere, of 3rd movement. Full work has not yet been performed).
“Doing” and “making" are the positive buzzwords of productivity and creativity, especially in America with its entrepreneurial spirit. This piece is about the importance of undoing, of allowing time to disentangle and see things as they are, where they come from, how we got here. I love the image of unfurling, unrolling something into its original form and exposing it to the open air, and the first movement translates this action into various musical gestures. The unthreading and rethreading of the second movement stitches together a few highly contrasting sections into a new, expanding quilt, complicating textures, and undoing/re-forming knots along the way. Ways of Undoing is also a feature for the horn. My earlier concerto Fog Mobiles plays with the instrument’s propensity for nostalgia, and the third movement “Lullaby-Lament” explores similar emotional territory, giving the horn the first and last word. “Undoing” here can mean more than an action to erase or uncover; one can also become undone by grief or regret.
Anthony Cheung