Duration: ca. 10′
Instrumentation: clarinet solo
Commissioned by Jackie Glazier
Returning to places where I once lived and catching up with old friends are always wonderful experiences for me. Every time it feels almost as if we’d never parted – and this age of Facebook immediacy feeds that illusion further. Even so, they are experiences that I can’t help but feel are somehow temporary – there’s a familiarity there, a feeling of almost-belonging, but there is always that sense that the separation will inevitably resume, that your lives will leave their momentary tangent and continue on their disparate paths. In the face of this pessimistic feeling, I like to turn it around, believing instead that it is the long separation that is temporary, and the brief, meaningful moments together that are lasting.
Reconnections represents a return to several places for me – it is a return to the instrument I grew up playing, as well as a return to my alma mater and the city of Gainesville; most importantly, it represents a new connection to an old friend.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
February 2020 – San Antonio, TX
Kyle Rowan, clarinet
October 2019 – Charleston, IL
Kyle Rowan, clarinet
March 5, 2019 – Macomb, IL
Eric Ginsburg, clarinet
October 24, 2018 – Knoxville, TN
Kyle Rowan, clarinet
February 15, 2014 – Tampa, FL
Calvin Falwell, clarinet
May 2, 2013 – La Jolla, CA
Curt Miller, clarinet
April 19, 2013 – Gainesville, FL (world premiere)
Jackie Glazier, clarinet