The Amber Hand

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in five movements Instrumentation: Soprano and String Quartet or Soprano and two Pianos Completed: March, 2005 Dedicated to: Annamarie Zmolek Duration: 14 minutes Text: by D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), and Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) Premiered: March 25, 2005 by Annamarie Zmolek, soprano, and Nathaniel Adam and Zachary Wadsworth, pianos

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Audio

III: At a Lunar Eclipse(Annamarie Zmolek, soprano; Nathaniel Adam and Zachary Wadsworth, piano)

Program Note

Growing up as a boy in Virginia, I always took a moment on warm summer nights to look up at the moon. Especially on those nights, when the tree frogs and cicadas provided a warm background drone, the moon was a shocking presence: silent, ever-present, ineffable.

The five songs of The Amber Hand all focus on different aspects of the moon. The first song, "The New Moon," begins with a wordless soprano vocalization, evoking the moon's mysterious ever-presence. Then follows a straightforward text about this lunar stage, in which the moon is hardly visible; with the start of a new lunar cycle, the world is a clean slate (thus, rhythmic and harmonic simplicity abound). The second song, "The moon is distant from the sea", meditates on the moon's powerful control over the tides. Emily Dickinson casts the moon as a mother and the tides as her young child, being led strictly by the hand. Here, the string quartet's obsessive rhythmic repetition reflects the regularity and power of the tides, as the soprano glides freely, if not defiantly, over top. The third song, "At a Lunar Eclipse," presents the world in a snapshot; as the moon disappears into the Earth's shadow, Thomas Hardy compares the moon's "imperturbable serenity" to the turbulence and misery on the Earth. This is musically painted by stark contrasts between fast, disturbed music and slower, calmer moments. The forth, and shortest, song, "Upon her fluent route," presents a mysterious and complex image of the moon, quietly pondering the meanings of eternity and higher powers. The final song, "Southern Night," is a spell-like invocation, cast by the singer to cause the red summer moon to rise. The repeating figures in the string quartet heighten the sense of ceremony. Then, when the moon "finally" rises, the soprano returns to the wordless vocalization that started the work, implying a circularity that mirrors the lunar cycles.

Performances (3)

March 25, 2005, 9:00 pm (premiere, piano version)

Annamarie Zmolek, soprano; Zachary Wadsworth and Nathaniel Adam, piano Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY

April 29, 2005, 6:15 pm

Annamarie Zmolek, soprano; Nathaniel Adam and Zachary Wadsworth, piano Christ Church, Rochester, NY

March 5, 2010, 8:00 pm (premiere, quartet version)

Jessica Abel, soprano; Martha Bruce and Adrienne Geisler, violins; Caleb Johnson, viola; Ismar Gomes, cello An die Musik, Baltimore, MD