About the Music

Vox Americana: Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated by the Idea of America. I have traveled to far corners most every state, and sought out many strands of American vernacular music in search of identity. 25 years ago when I hitchhiked across the country, I lay in the back of a van hurtling across Utah, reading Walt Whitman, drinking Jack Daniel's, figuring I could understand the American story, chronicle it, deeply and primitively inspired. Now I laugh at my youthful idealism, and yet I still haven't completely given up the quest. Every answer, every story, has a counter story. Even the most mundane answer seems to throw off a shadow. This piece, a series of snapshots, is not done, and it never will be. It roams through structure and freedom, disgust and optimism, privilege and marginalization, simple joy, humor, excitement, anger, and the elegy that lies behind it all. It reflects my longstanding desire to write long form works that balance notation and improvisation, that pose big questions and resist easy answers.

The text is democratic. I asked many people to answer the following questions:

1. Who are you
2. What does it mean to be an American
3. Where is our country headed
4. What's the oldest song you know

I transcribed the answers into what you will hear.

The Sonata for Solo Cello was composed for Wendy Sutter over the past year. I began it not long after my father died and to some degree the piece acted as a vessel for my grief. My goal was at first to write an elegy, however over time the aim became to explore the full range of the cello's intimate expressivity with the sting of a loved one's passing as a starting point.

The String Choir came about from a love of drummer Paul Motian's composing. I wanted to find a unique instrumentation to manifest the combination of pathos, quizzicalness, humor, and beauty that is Paul's music. I might add that finding the balance between the charts and the improvisation, knowing full well how wonderfully Paul plays his own music, has been a daunting challenge. Oliver Lake first captured my imagination in a Washington D.C. loft concert in the late 1970's. His trio with Michael Gregory Jackson knocked me out. It's great to have him with us in this unusual context.

Vox Americana was created with support from Chamber Music America's New Works: Creation and Presentation Program, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.