Evergreen (2020)
for two percussionists
32 minutes
Program Notes
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
-Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day
Evergreen is a thirty minute, five movement work for Marimba, Vibraphone and Glockenspiel. I finished writing this piece in December 2020, approaching the longest night of a very long year. Thinking about the experience of isolation and hardship brought on by a global pandemic, I found hope and solace in Cooper’s poem The Shortest Day. Her words reminded me of our ancient relationship to the Solstice. How for many cultures, across many generations, it has been a time of celebration and joy. A time where in the midst of dark days and bitter cold we feel the possibility, indeed the inevitability of light triumphing over darkness. For me, the sense of hope and joy expressed in this story, served as a beautiful reminder of our collective resiliency in the face of great difficulty.
Over the course of five movements, Evergreen anticipates, celebrates, and looks beyond the solstice. Beginning with Fading Light the music builds intensity with ever expanding intervallic patterns, creating a moody space of anticipation and longing. Sleeping Land, a sparse, nocturnal respite, follows with a moment of quiet contemplation. Shortest Day bursts into an explosion of energy and sound, reflecting the wild celebrations of the solstice itself, while Longest Night, expresses an austere, somewhat somber reminder of the darkness that still envelops the winter landscape. Finally, we arrive at the Rosy-Fingered Dawn. It is a new day and a a quiet optimism emerges. Hushed certitude in the coming light gradually blossoms into a more forceful expression of hope and rebirth.
Evergreen was commissioned by arx duo and a consortium of percussionists: DoubleBeats, CHannel2 Percussion Duo, The Up:Strike Project - Directed by Matthew Lau and Karen Yu, Taylor Davis, Russell Fisher, Jose-Antonio Caballero, Johnathon Westcott, Darrien Spicak, Orion Wysocki, Eric Whitmer, If + When. It was premiered virtuallu on March 6, 2021 by arx duo, presented by the Sustain Music Project, Seattle, WA.
Instrument List
Marimba (5 Octave)
Vibraphone
Glockenspiel
Crotale (second octave G and C)
Arx Duo’s album Ambient Resonances was released on Origin Records in 2023.
Purchase
Recent Performances
July 15, 2024 Chikusa Playhouse, Nagoya, Japan. Nonoka Mizukami and Yuma Inagaki.
July 12, 2024 Musicasa, Tokyo, Japan. Nonoka Mizukami and Yuma Inagaki.
July 9, 2024 Classical Jam, Monks Jazz Club, Austin, TX. Austin Percussion Collective (Dave Hall, DanHartung).
April 28, 2024 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Graduate Percussion Ensemble.
November 15, 2023 FIU Wertheim Performing Arts Center, Miami, FL. FIU Percussion Ensemble.
October 25, 2023 University of North Texas, Denton, TX. Kayla Liptak, Bryce Turner.
August 3, 2023 Bowdoin International Music Festival, Brunswick, ME. Alexa Clawson, Michael McKeague.
July 1, 2023 Melville Midwinter, City of Melville, Australia. Jet Kye Chong and Euphina Yap.
June 8, 2023 Ross Memorial Uniting Church, Perth, Australia. Jet Kye Chong and Euphina Yap.
June 6, 2023 University of North Texas, Denton. TX. Sandi Rennick, Dave Hall.
Press
“This is by far the most audience accessible piece on the album…As is common with the music of Honstein, "Evergreen" manages both beauty and tension throughout…”
Joe Millea, Percussive Notes
“Fascinating music, brilliantly played.”
Rick Anderson, CD Hot List