searching always for home (2020)
For solo violin
Dedicated to Peter Sheppard Skaerved
Program Note:
There is no programmatic intention in what unfolds as sound in this piece: any or no relationship to the title and the sounding music is forged at the discretion of the composer, performer and listener. Despite this statement, there is an unfolding of material that manifests through contrasting sections of music to hopefully provide the listener with a compelling experience even without programmatic intent. It is the interplay between and within these sections that is the narrative content of the composition.
The title is taken from a poem of my own from a set of 27 poems written in November 2005. The poem is shown in full here:
We travel on each other’s love
Strange, wild adventures
Territories unknown
Sometimes
Lost
Blind alleys
Or mazes
Bewilder
Searching always
For home
There are two iterations of the piece titled searching always for home, both of which were created at the same time: the first is a duo piece for violin and piano; the second, the solo violin version presented here that is, for all intent and purposes, the solo material from the duo piece slightly adapted to become a substantial solo work in its own right. The material constituting the violin writing in both the solo and duo pieces stems from, among other sources, self-borrowed and enhanced materials from the violin 1 part of the 2016 string quartet, observation 5.
I am always fascinated how the combination of musical materials with other content, in this case, the solo violin material when presented as a duo with piano, affects how these materials interact in time, constantly changing the vertical, harmonic and rhythmic relationships of the combined elements to alter how we perceive this unchanged material in different contexts. These contextual changes can radically alter our perception of the sounding music.
Duration: circa 17 – 18 minutes
Marc Yeats – June 2020