KING | CAWDOR (2019)
Vl, Bass Cl, Vcl, Piano
Duration ca. 14:00
PROGRAM NOTES
King | Cawdor takes its title from Shakespeare’s Macbeth - specifically, Banquo’s lines from Act III, Scene i:
“Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and I fear
Thou played’st most foully for ’t. Yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity.”
In the context of the drama, Banquo is observing that Macbeth, having fulfilled one part of the prophecy that promised he would be king, is forgetting the prophecy’s second part - that he would not be granted the opportunity to pass the kingship on. Viewed through a contemporary lens, it’s easy to view this as a commentary on the larger world of politics: those who make their way to the top by lying, cheating, or (in Macbeth’s case) murder are those most likely to have power violently taken from them. This piece attempts to communicate the emotional aspects of this moral, alternating dreamy textures with muscular, violent grooves.
Commissioned and premiered by Unheard-of Ensemble at Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, NY (April 2020)
SCORE PREVIEW
