Eventide for viola and alto saxophone

Duration:  ca.7 minutes

Premiere: 03.09.2013 at Rice Unverrsity Shepherd School of Music by Jarita Ng, viola, and Joseph Girard, saxophone

Commissioned by:  Jarita Ng and Joseph Girard

Program Notes: Eventide (from Middle English meaning “evening”) portrays the journey of slipping in and out of sleep which resembles the daily rising and falling of tide in the Earth’s bodies of water (moved by gravitational forces of the moon and sun). The piece opens with slow gestures—subdued breathing rhythms that eventually signal the transition into deep sleep. Gradually the tide of the subconscious and dreams rolls in and the piece arrives at a new “awareness” where much ground is covered quickly. Before long comes the return to shallow sleep, marking the completion of this nightly ritual and making way for its ritual-counterpart: everyday life.

–DJK

Hear Eventide below:

Watch Eventide below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMY06yp0mw&w=625&h=349]