Then: For those who are no more
10’30” 2021
For String Quartet
This is a sort of memento mori, written during the still-growing wave of Covid. My original intention was to write a sort of memorial piece for those who had been taken by this disease. But I expanded it to take note of all the dead everywhere: all who had once lived but are no more. There is a time in life when we experience the world as ourselves. We think what we think, see what we see, and experience a panoply of emotions. At death, that all ends. But we still live in a more indirect way in the thoughts and memories of those who knew us. But in time they pass, and perhaps we still appear in family histories with an even dimmer glow. And at some point that’s gone as well. All of us, present and past, are likely to have some recollection of a time we were most alive. We think of that as then.
I revisited this piece in late 2024 and was immediately struck by its darkness and uncertainty.The new audio rendering comes much closer to the intent of the piece.
If you’re interested, you can request a score at the bottom of this page
This is a brand-new and much-improved rendering (late 2024), using a new technology. It gives a much better sense of the piece.
Complete piece (binaural—best in headphones)