Chamber Music Marimba,
alto Saxophone
SKU:
PR.114423770
Composed
by Stacy Garrop. Set of
Score and Parts. 16+12+16
pages. Duration 11
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-42377.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114423770).
UPC:
680160688579.
When
RoseWind Duo’s Clifford
Leaman and Scott Herring
commissioned me for
Silver Linings, we could
not have anticipated that
we would be in the middle
of the COVID-19 pandemic
when I composed the
piece. In the early
summer of 2020, when the
three of us met virtually
to discuss possible
topics, we had all been
in lockdown for several
months; the causes and
effects of the lockdown
were at the forefront of
our discussion. In
themidst of daily
tragedies, I had been
seeing news stories using
the words “silver
lining” to describe
unexpectedly positive
situations arising from
our global situation,
ranging from small
effects (i.e. people
having time to work on
projects they never could
get around to doing) to
global ramifications
(resurging animal
populations in areas
where they’re no longer
challenged for space with
humanity).Silver Linings
consists of two
movements. Groundhog Day,
the first movement, is
slow and brooding. It
embodies the strong
feeling of déjà vu that
so many of us experienced
early on into lockdown,
as we seemed to live the
same day repeatedly with
minor variances to our
schedules. There are two
main musical gestures:
the first opens the piece
as a slow, ascending
minor chord which is a
representation of
uncertainty, and the
secondis a falling minor
scale. These gestures
depict how our lives were
reduced to the basic
building blocks of life
– wake up, eat, work,
eat, sleep – as our
daily activities and
livelihoods were suddenly
knocked down. These same
two gestures are utilized
in the energetic second
movement, Making
Lemonade, except that
they are spun around to
reveal their silver
linings: the minor chord
falls to sound centered
and decisive, and the
minor scale rises as it
bubbles with activity.
Among the seeds of
despair are also
foundseeds of hope, and
the saxophone and marimba
explore this hopefulness
with great vigor and
excitement.
