Program Notes March 8th 2024 Chamber Music of Michael Clay
Cappriccio
Joseph Kuipers and Imre Patkai
This short but busy piece started its life several years ago as a solo piano piece. One night after I performed it at a concert the cellist who was playing later in the concert expressed admiration for the piece and was envious that they could not be parr of such a showy, crowd pleasing piece. So I added cello and it's been the official version of the piece ever since.
Violin Sonata No. 2
Mary Reynolds and Imre Patkai
Each movement of this sonata describes a scene or situation:
Movement One ‘I Laughed Aloud’ describes the humor and embarressment of inappropriate laughter.
Movement Two ‘Walking in Moonlight’ paints a picture of walking at night in an unfamilar place - perhaps an abandoned town or its outskirts - with only the moon to light your way. The music is at a walking pace but full of hesitation, doubtfulness and uncertainty about what lies around the next moonlit corner.
Movement Three ‘Serious Tango’ is just that - a tango, a passionate dance between two people embroiled in a love/hate relationship. Each dancer, represented by the violin and piano, makes a dramatic entrance with their own passions and conflicting emotions. They move through an uneasy but rhythmic dance into moments of affection and tenderness. Finally they unite in a fiery unison… resolved in their conflicted love for one another.
Five Songs from Field Songs Volume I
These excerpts from Field Songs Volume I are the shortest and most succinct. The field songs are so named because they are all composed or at least outlined outdoors… in the field so to speak. The lyrics are all original except for ‘The Remains’ which is a setting of a poem by Mark Strand. Most of the songs are about the transcendant exultation of Nature and the pitfalls of being too removed from nature. They are meant to be melodic and simplistic.
Cello Suite No.I - Heaven and Earth
This suite for cello is predicated on an idea that I frequently have which is that there are two realms of existence; the spiritual, metaphysical, transcendant realm and the physical, tactile and tangible realm. The metaphysical/spiritual or “Heavenly” realm is all around us and everything is imbued with its underlying meaning. It is calm, resolute and peaceful in nature. Whereas the physcal/tangible “Earthly” is often conflicted, terse and challenging. Each of the preludes in this suite are a depiction of the spiritual realm whereby there is an aspect of calm. The solo cello movements are more dissonant and conflicted. Over the course of the piece the two realms increasingly more interactive where finally there is a unity, a one-ness achieved. This unity is represented by the Long Light O'er the Ocean… where the sky and the sea - Heaven and Earth - meet at the horizon.