Vestiges, mvt. 3, and wrapping up 2014

Hello friends!

The year is coming to an end, and as promised I am checking in to post about my progress this past month. I have worked on my song cycle for 29 of the 31 days of this month, and I am really enjoying my daily music writing practice. I hope to keep up daily writing in the new year.

As for the song cycle I am writing, it now has a name: Chansons Innocentes, after the set of five poems written by E. E. Cummings, which I am setting for soprano, clarinet, and piano. I am very excited about this work. I am not quite finished with the first complete draft of the entire cycle, but I am pleased with the progress I have made toward its completion in the past two months. In December, I wrote most of the remaining song called "little tree," which will be the third of five songs in the cycle. I am eager to share my sketches with Emma Rose Lynn, for whom I am writing these songs.

Finally, before I sign off for 2014, I received in my email inbox today a link to an audio recording of Vestiges, third movement, which was performed back in October by the Saint Helens String Quartet. I was delighted with the musicianship of the performance, which I was unable to attend in person. I uploaded the audio to youtube so I could share it with you:

This movement is the third of four, which I wrote for Robert Lombardo, in memory of his late wife, poet and playwright, Kathleen Lombardo.