evening rode tenderly

accordion + alto flute/piccolo [10’] 2010.


Commissioner: Joseph Petric
Funder: The Canada Council for the Arts
Premiere: Joseph Petric & Sara Traficante, Ottawa ChamberFest, August 6, 2010.
Program note:
As I roved out one morning fair in the pleasant month of June
As I roved out one evening all in the month of May
As I rode out on a summer’s evening
As I went out walking one morning in June
As I went out walking one morning in May
Now as I did walk out one evening down by a riverside
As I roved out one evening I heard a tender cry
As I rode out one evening fair down by the riverside

evening rode tenderly combines and reconfigures the melodies of eight folk songs from New Brunswick. I love to sing these songs, seduced by their intricate ornamentation, tendrils of melody unfurling and doubling back on themselves. The singer is leaving home, heading off on a journey — roving, walking or maybe riding. It’s early summer, fair and pleasant. The journey begins at the time between dark and light. In composing the music I included a stripped down choreography — fragments of a folk dance which subtly shifts the relationship between the two performers.