John Mackey - Places we can no longer go (2019) [w/ score]
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- John Mackey’s chilling, heartbreaking masterpiece, “Places we can no longer go”, communicates a story from his personal life. Scored for solo soprano and wind ensemble, this work tells about John’s mother, Elizabeth, and her struggles with rapid-onset dementia. John Mackey writes about the creation of this piece:
In April 2016, I posted this on Facebook:
My mom has been suffering from rapid-onset dementia, and has reached the point that she can’t form a sentence that anybody but her can understand. Tonight, I saw her for the first time in several months, and in the car on the way back home after dinner, I turned on the radio. Within seconds, she said, “Oh - Scheherazade! I’ve played this piece.” And she started humming along. It was Scheherazade, and she has played it - decades ago. The only other complete and understandable sentence she said tonight, when I was leaving, was “I love you.” Music is an incredible thing. It doesn’t pay well, and maybe your parents said it’s a terrible career choice, but the fact is that it reaches people on a level that nothing else can. If you’re ever questioning “does practicing all of these hours so I can play this instrument - does it matter?” The answer is yes.
Two days later, Gary Hill, Director of Bands at Arizona State University, contacted me, and asked me if I would write a piece about my mother and her struggle with this terrible disease. My initial reaction: no way. I couldn’t imagine a scarier, more personal piece.
Gary persisted, and I eventually acknowledged that I was resisting writing the piece not because it was a bad idea, but because it was a terrifying idea - and that’s not a reason to say no. If anything, that’s a reason to say yes. So, 11 months after he first asked, I agreed to write “Places We Can No Longer Go.”... (you can read the full program note here: www.johnmackey...)
COMPOSER: John Mackey
POET: A. E. Jaques
CONDUCTOR: Cynthia Johnston Turner
SOPRANO: Lindsay Kesselman
BAND: University of Georgia Wind Ensemble
TEXT: “Places we can no longer go” by A. E. Jaques
I look for you in all the old places
a series of shabby apartments and a Mexican restaurant
that teal-slashed sweater from your yearbook photo
1992
gone now, land unmarks
I trace the trail of us in memory’s atlas
a dotted line crossing borders like in an old movie
big letters for your grandfather’s store, italicized
rivers of music
garbled now, lost-making
I run the roads of us all uncharted
boundaries blur like the lenses in old movies
I see you smudge-soft in Christmas and
Siamese cats
clouds hide the end of the world
called a nurse by your name, saw your face on a stranger
out of place, out of places, I find you everywhere
the bright arrow that fixes the map of vanished things
You Are Here
and so here I am
NOTE: This is a live performance! (Recorded in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall on 3/28/2019)
Please be aware that all of the music (and images) featured in this video belong to their respective owners, and I or this channel does not claim any right over them. I upload these solely for archiving purposes, and for the sharing and enjoyment of great music. Monetization is not enabled. If you are the rightful owner of copyrighted material used and would like the video removed from RUclips, please, instead of reporting/striking my channel, leave a comment below with your statement and I will take the video down effective immediately.
#scorefollower #contemporaryclassical #classicalmusic
Wow.... Just... WOW.
based