Peculiar Foundations

Starlight

03-10-2019

Vertigo

This orchestra piece is dedicated to all the poor souls who battle against blood-sucking mosquitos.

The Battle: Tame and Unrestrained

Ever wondered what a crew of lost pirates sounded like?

A Tale of Lost Pirates

Trio for percussion, violin, and cello. Performed in Vienna, Austria at the Vienna Summer Music Festival in June 2019 by PHACE Ensemble.

Beyond the Ancient

To love is a wonderful thing. It sweeps you up, twills you ‘round, and never seems to end. But love is not free. Grief is the price that must be paid for having loved another. 
	The loss and grief of what has been and the people who once were can be a difficult burden to carry and price to pay. In these times, the yearning to return to the days of yore is often overwhelming. But it is the memories made and those we love that ground us. Yet, what happens when you die and your memories leave this earth with you? Who will remember you? Who did you impact through your life?
	Memento Mei (Latin translation “remember me”) is a cry of desire and longing for remembrance not only for those who have passed, but also for those who are and one day will be. More than that, Memento Mei is a challenge to those of us still living to live in such a way as to leave behind worthy legacies.
	For you cannot go back to the beginning; you cannot return to what once was. Nevertheless, hold tight to your memories, persevere through the grief, and love dearly. Also, please memento mei. 

Memento Mei is a piece for string quartet and optional electronics.

Memento Mei

I never thought I would be the one to join the crowd, to do what everyone else does. Spoiler alert: I did. And I am not sure how I feel about falling into that abyss.  
Throughout Western music history, a general trend among composers of each era has been to react against the music written by their direct predecessors. Growing up with a classical education, I learned (whether I liked it or not) to appreciate and value the past and how it affects us today. So when I had the opportunity for one of my pieces to be premiered in Vienna, Austria the summer of 2020, the history of the city inspired me to compose a piece that merged my developing musical style with musical elements of the past I like. Sort of, taking portions of the past and re-imagining it through the looking glass of the present, if you will.
While in Vienna, I met a violinist who gave a few masterclasses on composing for the violin that I was privileged to attend. One afternoon, this violinist talked with a small group of us about his views on what is valid contemporary art music. They deemed current art music which does not result from music of the twentieth century and the avant-garde tradition to be “old music in new bottles”. By this, they meant, essentially, that music which has been previously written (“old music”) is just re-packaged in today’s perspectives and called ‘new music’. 
Ironically, my first reaction to this notion was to do the very thing I strove to avoid while preparing for Vienna. I began thinking perhaps it could be argued that the music the violinist claimed was the only valid contemporary art music had become “old music in new bottles” itself to many composers today. In doing so, I joined the crowd of composers who reacted against the music and ideas of their predecessors.
But before I just wrote off the violinist’s idea of new music, I decided to give it a try. So, the concept for Falling Into The Abyss for solo violin was born. I quickly lost interest in the piece and abandoned it for a few months in favor of other projects. Nevertheless, Falling Into The Abyss haunted me and forced me to confront it and my opinions on the music of today. Thus, I decided to return from whence I began and re-imagine this “old music in new bottles” through my looking glass of the present. 
Please join me as we fall into the abyss.

Brianna McAbee Warner