I composed Summersongs for Ally Smither and the Rice University bassoon studio. Since first hearing Ben Kamins’ studio several years ago, I have been imagining the wealth of sonorities and textures I could create with a large bassoon ensemble. Summersongs is the culmination of those years of dreaming; the piece is designed to showcase the many facets of the instrument, as well as Ally’s versatility as a singer. I collaborated with poet Jacquelynn Berton on the texts for movements one, two, four, and five.
The first movement, Non-scripta, is the most traditionally melodic. Jacquelynn describes the speaker of this poem as a mystical being, a benevolent spirit comforting a child lost in a forest. But, as the movement progresses, it becomes clear that the innocent beauty of the opening lines is not to be trusted. In the second movement, I imagined the bassoons as a swarm of locusts, inspired by the insect-like images from the text (“clicking”, “ardor-crazed”, “husk-shorn”). Following the whirling energy of movement two, we retreat into a more personal space; movement three is an intimate reflection on heartbreak. The vulnerability of the text is matched with simple harmonies and poignant silences. The fourth movement creates an immediate contrast, indulging in the bassoon’s capacity for grotesque groans and tortured wailings. The text is simultaneously playful and morbid. For the final movement, Jacquelynn intended her poem to create a sensation of ecstatic stillness, an agitated energy without direction. To depict this quality, I composed music with a sprawling harmonic rhythm, floating vocal lines, and churning bassoon figuration.