That has such people in it. (2018-2019)

for string quartet (16 min.)

1. Utopia (June 2018, rev. Oct 2018)

The idea of utopic and dystopic societies has long-permeated our writings and understandings of interpersonal dynamics. In English, we often equate the homophonic “utopia” and “eutopia” as a description of some sort of idealistic society, but the words didn’t necessarily equate when originally conceived.

The Greek word “outopos,” from which Sir Thomas More coined “utopia” in his 1516 book of the same name, translates literally as “no place” (as opposed to “eutopos,” as “good place”); with this piece I wanted to try and connote some sort of a sonic landscape that remains somewhat ambiguous in its illustration—it exists purely, without the coloration of “good” or “bad.” The piece has a sense of development, but one that I feel exists within a realm of seemingly ill-defined pitch, characteristic of the fractured edges of a civilization that cannot be categorized by its morality, but can only grace our imaginations.

utopia was written for the Mivos Quartet as part of the 2018 VIPA Festival in Valencia, Spain, was premiered in July 2018, and revised in October 2018.

2. squalid with the over-compensations for misery (2019, rev. 2022)

Taken from a line of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, squalid with the over-compensations for misery fixates on the theme from the ninth movement of Bach’s “Jesu, Meine Freude” motet (BWV227, text by Johann Frank with translation by Pamela Dellal below), exploring the microtonal shadings between major and minor sonorities, again to create some sense of aural ambiguity. Juxtapositions of harsh sonorities with much sweeter harmonies are meant to unsettle the listener, gradually revealing the choral melody beneath clouds of dissonance and blurred harmonics.

squalid with the over-compensations for misery (originally titled AF632) was commissioned by earspace as part of their program entitled “What if the truth is not enough?” It was premiered on April 28, 2019 in Raleigh, NC.

Bergamot Quartet
June 29, 2022
Baltimore, MD.