SONATA FOR A NORTHERN SEA TOWN (2013)

sextet for flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion. 17:30

Composed for the inaugural season of the Wild Shore Festival for New Music. Studio recording made by Katie Cox, flute, Eileen Mack, clarinets, Andie Springer, violin, Evelyn Farny, cello, Vicky Chow, piano, and Joe Bergen, percussion . The Premiere and recording of this work was made possible in part by the Composer Assistance Grant of New Music USA.

Program Note

Sonata for a Northern Sea Town is a meditation on two aspects of life in my hometown, Homer, Alaska: dynamic natural forces that determine everyday life (20-foot tides, the price of salmon, the flux of daylight), and the people—fisherman, artists, Russian Old Believers, seekers, exiles and many others—who contribute to the utterly unique culture of Homer. Each part embodies one of these aspects, forming a kind of diptych impression of the fishing village bearing the nickname "The Cosmic Hamlet by the Sea."