Triptych

Instrumentation: Bass Voice & Piano
Duration: 15 minutes
Year: 2023

Program Notes

Commissioned by the Canadian Art Song Project, my Triptych is a cycle exploring perspectives on death and loss through three poems by poets Edward Thomas, Edwin Muir, and Ina Coolbrith. The cycle opens with Lights Out by English poet Edward Thomas (1878-1917), a poem which uses the image of sleep to convey the idea of life’s eventual end. The piano takes on the image of sleep as ethereal arpeggios underline and support the bass voice in this first movement. The second movement is a setting of Edwin Muir’s (1887 – 1959) “A Child Dying” which explores the theme of innocence and mortality. The poem depicts the death of a young child in a simple manner, and the speaker describes the child’s journey towards death, highlighting the child’s gradual detachment from the world as it approaches its end. The music takes the listener through several states mirroring the journey in the text and ends in dissonance on the poignant words, “I did not know death was so strange.”

The final movement ends the cycle on a hopeful note with American poet Ina Coolbrith’s (1841 – 1928) poem “I Cannot Count my Life as Loss”. Coming on the heels of two heavier poems, the Coolbrith’s poem emphasizes the positive in the face of challenges in life. It speaks to the idea that every moment, both pleasant and difficult, contributes to the richness and significance of one’s existence and celebrates the inherent worth of the speaker’s journey. The last song is characterized by lyrical lines set in a tonal harmonic language which brings to the cycle to an affirmative end.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to Steven Philcox and Lawrence Wiliford of the Canadian Art Song Project for commissioning this piece, to Bass Matthew Li for his enthusiasm to premiere this new cycle, and to mentor composer Jeffrey Ryan for imparting his experience and wisdom during the process of text selection and composition.

Score

Currently under exclusivity.

Score Sample