New Music Raleigh + D. J. Sparr. For release on Centaur Records in 2014.

Sound Harmonies with Air

Live Premiere LSU Damon Talley conducting, Kimberly Sparr, soloist

W. S. Merwin's poetry has been a constant in my adult life. His words bring me comfort in times of anxiety, smiles in times of happiness, and comfort in times of grief. 2020-2021 brought difficult times for all of us, and I once again found myself turning to Merwin's words. 
 
I rarely know exactly what his poetry means, but I love how they make me feel. This was no different for the poem that inspired my viola concerto, I wake in the dark and remember. As I was writing, I rolled over the imagery in my mind: "wake in the dark and remember," "listening to the black hour," "you are asleep beside me while around us the trees full of night lean," etc. etc. These images are so vivid and clear yet they lack any strict narrative, so my imagination became free to run wild and see the sounds the words inspire.
 
The concerto is in two movements but played without a break. 
 
I wake in the dark and remember was commissioned by an international consortium of Universities led by Damon Talley and the Louisiana State University. It is dedicated with great admiration and gratitude to the extraordinary violist Kimberly Sparr, who gave the premiere.
 
Below is the W. S. Merwin poem that inspired this concerto. Please take a moment to read these words and listen to the sounds they provoke in your own imagination.
 
Rain Travel
I wake in the dark and remember
it is the morning when I must start
by myself on the journey
I lie listening to the black hour
before dawn and you are
still asleep beside me while
around us the trees full of night lean
hushed in their dream that bears
us up asleep and awake then I hear
drops falling one by one into
the sightless leaves and I
do not know when they began but
all at once there is no sound but rain
and the stream below us roaring
away into the rushing darkness

I Wake In The Dark And Remember (viola concerto)

This set was recorded live at Tavern on Camac for Pride 2022.  Enjoy a mix of House, NuDisco, Tribal and Tech House. Sing along and shake that ass!!

Pride 2022 LIVE @ Tavern On Camac

“Cause/Effect” is a piece for solo cello that was written in preparation for studying at the 2023 New York New Music Intensive with composer Alyssa Weinberg and cellist Gabriel Cabezas.

This is the moment before everything falls apart, a non-linear articulation of love, loss, and the process of embracing my lack of control. This piece is not about decay, but dissipation, disorientation, and the mindless blur between cause and effect. Moments of stagnancy rest between our ongoing push and pull until inevitably, everything fractures and fades away.

We have no control over this. We must accept this, and move forward.

Cause/Effect (for solo cello)

Commissioned and Performed by Ellipsis Trio....based on a melody from “The Music of the Pilgrims.” Inspired by William Bradford’s journal “Of Plymouth Plantation”, which was lost in Boston’s Old South Meeting House and turned up in England years after the revolutionary war. www.ellipsistrio.com 

Lost in the Old South Tower

Performed by the LA Phil; Roderick Cox, conductor
World premiere performance, 11/18/2018

Performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall, courtesy of the LA Phil

More information at http://www.christophercerrone.com/the-insects-became-magnetic/

The Insects Became Magnetic (Excerpt)

Addison Rider is a composer and musician currently residing in Philadelphia, PA.

Cause/Effect (for solo cello)

Addison Rider

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