Matthew Kennedy | composer
| poetic devices
Instrumentation: Low Brass Trio (Hn, Tbn, Tba)
Duration: ca. 3'30"
Commissioner: Cathryn Cummings
Year Composed: 2017
I. Haiku
II. Epitaph (for Mari)
III. Anaphora
IV. Six-Word Novel
V. Quatrain (Decasyllabic)
Program Note:
Poetic Devices is a collective of five miniatures (musical pâtiserrie, if you will) constructed within equally miniature poetic forms. I am increasingly influenced by non-musical art forms; architecture, visual art, and literature all play pivotal roles in my creative output as a composer and educator at present. The first three movements, Haiku, Epitaph (for my dear friend and poet Mari Evans), and Anaphora, are to be performed without pause as one, episodic section of the work, followed by a brief, palette-cleansing pause. The latter two movements, Six-Word Novel and a decasyllabic Quatrain, are to be heard as the second corresponding/contrasting course.
Poetic Devices was commissioned by Cathryn Cummings and premiered at Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra's Soundbites Chamber Music Concert Series, New Britain Museum of American Art. May 2017.