In Search of Standard Time
ensemble 1.1.1.2 saxophones.1, 1.1.1.0, trap kit, keyboard, 2 soprani, string quintet, optional percussion
written spring 2022
duration 24 minutes
Commissioned by the Albany Symphony for the 2022 American Music Festival
Premiered June 3, 2022 at Cohoes Music Hall in Cohoes, NY
It’s funny to think that our global system of synchronized time zones might have its roots in the humble city of Schenectady, NY. Home to the first passenger railroad in America, the city’s Mohawk & Hudson line famously cut down a day’s worth of travel to less than an hour. To 19th century riders, trains were like time machines, and Schenectady would lead the way in building them for over a century as rails spread across the nation.
Timekeeping swiftly became a necessity as passengers and freight became increasingly dependent on this new technology. The implications of these timetables were not lost on sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, who wrote one of his most celebrated short stories, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman,” in response to the power of the almighty train schedule. For Ellison, time was a tyrant ruling with a steam-engine fist, commanding the lives of passengers, workers, and manufacturers alike with millisecond precision. When asked where he found his inspiration, he wryly responded, “Schenectady.”
Toying with time has always been exciting to me, especially in the context of music. Musicians naturally quantize time into beats and bars and riffs and rhythms; chamber players manage to construct a shared pulse even without the help of a conductor; performances can seemingly stretch and compress lengthy durations at will. This piece, In Search of Standard Time, explores all of these ideas as a tribute to the innovations and rails that led to our world’s obsession with time. The music begins senza misura, drifting about peacefully before lurching toward a sense of forward motion. The initial rhythms are unstable and immature, ricocheting through new time signatures and unmeasured passages as they slowly become more and more regular, evoking the rigidity of timetables. At its climax, the piece hurtles forward at breakneck speed, falling to pieces as each part dissolves into furious, uncoordinated flurries of notes. Finally, once all is calm once more, the opening material reappears with leisurely, insouciant motion, evoking the fate of Schenectady’s Mohawk & Hudson railroad: a trail walk, meant for hikers to explore at their own unhurried pace.
This piece was commissioned by the Albany Symphony for the 2022 American Music Festival, celebrating the completion of the Empire State Trail.
Click here for a perusal score.
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