in the speaking silence
in the speaking silence for Alto Saxophone and Bassoon (2018) was commissioned by the Post-Haste Reed Duo – Sean Fredenburg, saxophone and Javier Rodriguez, bassoon – for a “rituals”-themed concert. The piece is lovingly dedicated to the memory of my mother, Linda, who passed away while I was writing the work. To honor her love of hymns, I wove the rhythmic pattern from the stark refrain of Philip P. Bliss's hymn, It is Well with my Soul, throughout the piece. The title comes from the second line of Christina Rossetti's poem, Echo.
This work is distributed by the ADJ•ective New Music Composers’ Collective and recorded by the Post-Haste Reed Duo for their 2019 Aerocade Music release, Donut Robot!
– Andrea Reinkemeyer
ECHO by CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream.
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again tho’ cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.
Track List
1. Donut Robot! 09:43
2. First Light 08:19
3. Soundscapes 1. The Hills of Basilicata 05:23
4. Soundscapes 2. Snowscape 06:30
5. Soundscapes 3. Moto Perpetuo 03:43
6. Hommage: Saygun et Bartok en Turquie 1936 (Chanson de Hatice Deklioğlu) 07:56
7. In the Speaking Silence 08:50
8. Snapshots 1. Grotesque 01:27
9. Snapshots 2. Chain 04:35
10. Snapshots 3. Haunted 01:39
11. Snapshots 4. Early Bird Special 01:16
. . . “explores a reverent sound world that hovers just above the brink of silence.”
- Maggie Molloy, Second Inversion
“ . . . a gamut of emotions is expressed during its eight minutes, from reverence and supplication to mournfulness despair.”
- textura
“movingly austere...”
- dbarbiero, Avant Music News
“ . . . there is an inevitable touching aspect to this piece of sonic mourning. . . There is a remarkable multiphonic on saxophone here– remarkable both for its veracity ... and perfect control.”
- Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine
