Philip Carlsen

Clarinet, Violin, Viola, and Cello

Composer's Note:

Written during the time of coronavirus, this setting of poetry by Jan Zwicky employs spatial and visual separation to enact a ritual of isolation. As the piece begins, the players are together downstage-right. All stand, except for the cellist, who is seated facing outwards, unable to see the other players. Following the brief opening section, the clarinetist and violinist walk away from the cellist, ending up at least fifteen or twenty feet apart, on roughly equidistant points of a large circle, also facing outwards, violinist downstage-left and clarinetist at the back of the stage. The interior of the circle"”central stage"”is the domain of the violist, who moves around in that space, looking at the other players for cues as necessary, but maintaining an appropriate "social distance." At the end, the violist and clarinetist return to their original positions near the cellist, leaving the violinist alone at the other side of the stage. The players speak the Zwicky texts: rhythmically-notated excerpts from the poems "Music and Silence," "Cashion Bridge," and "Open Strings."