Leaving
Program notes
This piece has an unusual origin. Years ago, in order to leave my home on the west coast of Canada to study composition in Europe, I raised money for my travel by selling as-yet unwritten bars of music to everyone I’d ever met. The result was a huge commission from over sixty friends, family, and community members. In 2011, with the help of the Quatuor Bozzini, I finally made good on my promise and created the piece Warblework. The first movement of Warblework eventually became a piece of its own. It is is based on a melody, Leaving, by Canadian fiddler Zav RT, who was then a resident of the remote Salt Spring Island, where myself and many of the sixty supporters lived. It transcribes the recording Zav made of this melody, adorned by the warblings of the late Oliver Schroer. I have to admit that at the beginning this choice was somewhat contrived, as Zav had helped a lot with the fundraiser, and many of the contributors loved his music. However, as the work developed, the relationship between folklore and bird songs became more and more intuitive and the result was a kind of ode to the regional sounds of the Pacific coast, of both the cafes and the forests.
