When in doubt, haul out the juvenilia…
In the course of sorting and packing for a move (more on that another time), I’ve come across a recording of my first-ever public performance. Four Sidestreets (1986) for flute and piano was the result of a set of freshman-year composition assignments.
The movements are short and undeveloped, the longest being about a minute and a half. The titles are taken from the street grid in the Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhoods where I’d spent my high school years. I remember making the point in the program notes that there was no programmatic connection between the titles and the streets themselves. (I also remember that I was so obnoxious as to write my program notes in the future tense. Freshman composition majors will be freshman composition majors.)
And so I take you now to a mildewy recital hall at 313 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. It is April, 1986…
I. Fessenden Street
The assignment here was to write an “air” for flute and piano. I remember being oh so chuffed with myself for coming up with the 13/8 rhythm in the accompaniment pattern, but this piece predates my fascination with Bulgarian folk music by about 12 years.
II. Jenifer Street
Here the assignment was to write a piece that is “through composed”, in other words without any particular formal plan (no problem for me in those days). I came up with this basic little gymnopédie. Here we see that I had absolutely no clue how to end a piece.
III. Macomb Street
I’m rather proud of this one. It’s probably the most well crafted of the four, and it reveals my inner Bernstein. I ended up cannibalizing this piece a year later for a ballet score written for a Philadelphia Area Repertory Theater production of Miss Julie, adapted for a small chamber ensemble.
IV. Van Ness Street
In the final movement I made a slight attempt to do something “different”, resulting in a not particularly successful work. I don’t know; what do you think?
