ensemble: chamber orchestra (1[picc].1.1.1-2.1.1.0-2perc-strings)
duration: 10 minutes
written: fall 2019 - winter 2020
commissioned by: Durham Symphony Orchestra
premiere: April 10th, 2022; Durham, NC

more info: http://www.robertrankinmusic.com/no-name-in-the-street

Program Note:

       Reap they the field that is none of theirs, strip they the vineyard wrongfully seized from its owner. 
                           - Job 26:4

       As a life long resident of the Raleigh-Durham NC area, I was shocked that I had never heard about the history of Durham’s Hayti District. Founded as an independent black community after the Civil War, the Hayti District operated libraries, hotels, theaters, and a hospital becoming one of, if not the first, fully self-sufficient African-American community in the United States. Hayti continued to prosper throughout the 20th century until the 1950s with the urban revitalization of Durham which constructed the Durham Freeway directly down the middle of Hayti, splitting it in two. 
	
	My work, No Name In The Street, borrows its title from James Baldwin and is, in essence, about the history of Hayti. The piece begins with a long melodic solo line in the strings (based upon spelling the word HAYTI into musical pitches). This “Hayti theme” grows and fleshes out into a broad, sweeping statement. This moment is slowly taken over by the brass and winds which begin to distort and obscure the theme. The theme, now abstracted by the winds and brass, only occasionally can be heard. The piece reaches a great climax and is abruptly cut off.  The “Hayti theme” is now heard in its most clear and intimate form played by a solo string quintet. Slowly, over time, the theme begins to get erased by the orchestra, note by note, until one solo viola is left trying to sing out.

	No Name In The Street is, more broadly, about the erasure of history and communities and the importance of keeping the past alive even when forces greater than us attempt to eliminate them. 

WUNC, the local NPR station in the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina, published a magnificent investigation into the housing crisis: https://wunc915.atavist.com/where-we-live

No Name In The Street: for chamber orchestra (excerpts)

shit-post - dissonant city type beat with sub bass - use headphones :]

dissonance dance

Premiered by Jihwan Yoon, April 14th, 2024.
Baltimore, MD

Recording edit: Yeonsuk Jung

Yellow-shaped Eternity (노랑무늬영원) for piano solo (2024)

for flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, viola, and cello

Premiered by Earspace ensemble, January 27th, 2024.
Baltimore, MD

Recording edit: Yeonsuk Jung

The Archer for mixed quintet (2023)

Premiered by Old Bay New Music Ensemble, April 25th, 2024
Griswold Hall, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

Enchanted Ocean for chamber orchestra (2024)

Four Harmonies: Reflections of Monet - for mixed quintet (2024)

i: propulsive harmony
ii: tender harmony
iii: floating harmony
iv: dancing harmony

Four Harmonies: Reflections of Monet responds to a series of paintings of Monet which I recently saw at Musée D’Orsay in Paris. The paintings were of the Rouen Cathedral and, as is typical of Monet, he painted multiple variations on the Cathedral’s façade with different hues and shadings, and he titled them various “Harmonies” depending on the colors that are primary in the painting. What struck me was not so much Monet’s characteristic cycles of paintings, but the simplistic, yet evocative titling of these as “Harmonies,” particularly since the “harmony” is what changes while the subject stays constant. In Four Harmonies, there are four continuous movements which are all based on closely related harmonic material. In this way, the constant subject is harmony in the musical sense, while the evolving contexts of each movement are treated like unfolding colors as harmonies in a visual art medium, in an effort to create different shadings and explorations of a single subject. In this way, the piece becomes an approximation of a single subject based on multiple viewpoints, angles, or perspectives, as is the case for the Monet series. 

Four Harmonies was written for and premiered by the TAK Ensemble in April 2024. Recording Engineer, David Bird.

Four Harmonies: Reflections of Monet - for mixed quintet

Composed for Alex Johnson and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon.

Recorded and engineered by Christopher Willis.

and even the wall breaks

Dreaming Flotsam

can I come over?  my cards are still on your table, my broken heart needs fixing, can you do that for me?  cigarettes look so cool, but they're so bad for you.  I can't see our future, but that's what lamps are for.  I don't know what will happen to us, but I'll stay right here. (can I come over?)  get away from those thorns, get away from those thorns.  all those folks blow their horns, yeah here comes the queen, here comes the queen.  (can I come over?)

Can I come over?

Steal the Groove!!

Chicago-based composer, singer, and musical collaborator.

II.

Benjamin T. Martin

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