X CODES (2015)
For Violin, Clarinet, and Piano
Duration ca. 6:00
PROGRAM NOTES
“X Codes” are spray-painted symbols left on the façades of buildings by emergency responders in the wake of major disasters. They indicate different types of information to emergency workers, including the date the property was entered, whether there are any hazardous materials within, and whether there are any dead bodies. I was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina descended on the city in 2005. When I returned, X Codes were everywhere.
This piece is an elegy for the pre-Katrina New Orleans that I got to experience as a student. Like a hurricane, it is constructed in arch form, with the final section of the piece moving in reverse of the first. However, it is the more lyrical middle section where the real meaning of the work resides.
Premiered by Andreas Volmer, Erik Cole, and Ammon Perry at Timucua Arts Foundation, Orlando, FL (September 2019).
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