Description
Duration: 8'15"
Instrumentation: flute (doubling alto flute and police whistle), B-flat clarinet, violin, cello (doubling police whistle), percussion (crotales [high octave], concert bass drum, 4 tom toms, medium suspended cymbal, tambourine [mounted], 5 temple blocks, medium wood block, slapstick [one-handed], police whistle) and piano
Written in residence at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Premiere: Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Aspen Music Festival and School, Center for Composition Studies Advanced Master Class Concert, Harris Concert Hall, Aspen CO, July 16, 1999.
Program Notes
Although this sextet is not intended to openly convey a specific program, the work itself is inspired by television shows that expose people in the act of committing crimes. The form and materials are developed from imaginary scenes depicting a day in the life of a criminal: running scared (from the police), traveling on the interstate, having nightmares while sleeping (probably in a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere off Old Route 66), looming shadows and hysterical visions, breaking out in cold sweat when someone supposedly comes looking and traveling again at 1:00 a.m. As you would expect, the unfortunate criminal is finally caught in the end.
– Robert Paterson
