Name: iv. learning to breathe by David Carlton Adams
Duration: 1 min 5 s
Description: Premier performance of "5 mystic songs" for voice and string quartet, on a text by Olivia Pepper, performed by Angela Irving (soprano), Kelsey Craggett Kennedy, Andrew Green, Brett Detweller, and Philip Whitney (string quartet) as a part of One Ounce Opera's 2016 "Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Art Song" in downtown Austin, TX.

For MIVOS String Quartet, performed at the American Academy of Rome, Italy, June 2023, composed by Miya Masaoka

MIVOS String Quartet: The Horizon Leans Forward 2023

Sonant Topography is a kind of map. Following world travelers and inhabitants to their destinations and places of origin, it explores the concept of location by dropping verbal pushpins over the expansive surface of a flattened globe. Sonant Topography was commissioned by EMPAC for their wave field synthesis array and premiered at the TimeSpans festival at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York, in August of 2021.

Sonant Topography (StereoMix)

for the Ghost Ensemble

excerpt recording, first 12 minutes

premiere performance by the Ghost Ensemble

December 2022, Roulette Theater, Brooklyn

mixed by Ben Richter

interius/exterius (2022) excerpt

Barbora Kolářová, violin
Jordan Bak, viola
Mia Barcia-Colombo, cello
Charles Paul, bass

Commissioned by the Lake George Music Festival
made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts


Program Note:

The initial impetus for …enfumée was Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue II, an early work from a series of abstract and monochromatic explorations in 1916. When setting out to write this piece I initially chose to engage with O’Keeffe’s work because of her close connection with Lake George. While browsing a featured exhibit of her work at MoMA, I was immediately struck by the deep saturation and subtle shading of the color in this particular painting, the powerful movement portrayed in the crumpled yet expansive swirl of blue –  like someone making a fist of smoke. This image resonated particularly strongly at the time, as we were in the midst of New York’s first encounter with the hazardous smoke from the Canadian wildfires which was engulfing the city and surrounding regions of the country. In that moment I decided not to write a work that was necessarily in direct response to O’Keeffe’s painting, but rather to allow my connection and inspiration in that moment to refocus the piece as an outlet for my experience with that recent and present change in our environment. I began to see vivid imagery of the swirls of smoke, the flow of the air patterns, the gradually shifting colors of haze. I was mesmerized by air flow maps I found on various air quality tracking apps, the constantly shifting color patterns, all the while living through my own waves of paralyzing anxiety, an almost PTSD-like response to being told to be afraid of the air we breathe, yet again. It was ironic that after such a long period of time with Covid, growing accustomed to masking indoors but finding relief and safety in the free-flowing air outside, we were now being told to stay locked indoors and mask up if we ventured out. 

I composed …enfumée while in residence at Copland House, an idyllic retreat in Cortlandt, NY. Aaron Copland’s house is situated in a wonderfully isolated natural setting, a perfect space to engage with this subject matter, to escape from the city and breathe the fresh air. In the middle of my residency another wave of smoke set in, creating an opportunity for me to re-engage directly with the experience in the middle of the composition itself. I remember the first afternoon of the smoke’s return, driving on a bridge across the Croton Reservoir and almost stopping my car in the middle of the road as a I was struck by the imagery looking out into the hills beyond the water: it looked exactly like O’Keeffe’s paintings of Lake George, the haze from the smoke recreating her shading, her brushstrokes. The title …enfumée is also a reference to the work …à la Fumée, an homage to the composer Kaija Saariaho who passed away in June and whose music I have held in my mind and heart as I worked on this piece.

...enfumée (2023)

Between Scene 2 (The Citizen Scientists) and Scene 3 (The Developers), a Sonic Path is activated on the Newtown Creek site. Audiences follow the sound along a winding path as it leads them to the location where the Scene 3 film will be shown on the side of a dilapidated building wall. This pre-recorded track includes field recordings made by artist Marie Lorenz as she documented her travels along the the Newtown Creek between 2021 and 2023.

from "Newtown Odyssey" - Sonic Path 1

Studio recording of Sad Music for Lonely People, written 2019. Performed by Matthias Engler and Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir.

Sad Music for Lonely People (2023)

Metamorphosis

Premier performance of "5 mystic songs" for voice and string quartet, on a text by Olivia Pepper, performed by Angela Irving (soprano), Kelsey Craggett Kennedy, Andrew Green, Brett Detweller, and Philip Whitney (string quartet) as a part of One Ounce Opera's 2016 "Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Art Song" in downtown Austin, TX.

5 mystic songs

iv. learning to breathe

written as a memorial to Steve Bodner, this is a live performance by Roomful of Teeth on 7 June 2018 at the Woodstock Town Hall Theater, Woodstock, VT.

for more info, visit https://evbvd.com/blog/pub/tomorrow/

Did He Promise You Tomorrow? (Roomful of Teeth live)

Caligo (2019)
for cello and chamber orchestra
Commissioned and performed by Nicholas Finch and the NouLou Chamber Players

iv. learning to breathe

David Carlton Adams

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