Corners of Light

PROGRAM NOTES

Corners of Light, commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest, is dedicated to David Shifrin in celebration of his 40th year as CMNW Artistic Director. The piece explores glowing sounds, as the clarinet bends and dips, evoking the very moment where a ray of light emerges to the eye, and the piano rings in gentle sympathetic resonance (with its inner strings sustained using the special “middle” pedal). The work unfolds as a large-scale arch: there are two outer sections filled with fast music that is playful, singing, and virtuosic, as well as a mysterious inner section that floats freely out of time. The final coda includes music of cathartic release: the clarinet sighs in gentle trills, coming to rest in an atmosphere that is transformed and breathing.

- Daniel Temkin