Distanced

elegy for string orchestra
ca. 8’00”

This is a string orchestra arrangement of Distanced (2020), an elegy for string quintet that I wrote in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic. For many, it was a time of physical and mental separation from friends and family; never before did we take being hugged and comforted by a loved one for granted so much. It has also been a time of distress at and resentment towards just how many of the pandemic’s moving parts we cannot control: how people around us act, how governments and international organizations respond, whether people we know and care about get infected or not, how long schools and businesses will be closed down... this is such a novel experience on a global scale, and its unpredictability has forced all of us to realize how truly dependent we are on one another. For many, it has also been a time of introspection and revision—with everything put into perspective, we can take a true look at our priorities and reassess our ways of thinking, feeling, and living.

This elegy was, for me, an outpouring of sadness and frustration, written for anyone who had to go through the experience of being distanced from those closest to them. The brooding harmony of the piece reflects our separation and, in a fleeting moment of brightness, our hopeful union. Distanced also shows this more literally in its structure—it starts out in unison and slowly diverges into seconds, thirds, and so forth until the climax of the piece, full of anguish, wails in dissonant sevenths. We then, having changed from living through this experience, slowly work our way back to our starting point, the unison.

For a performance of the original string quintet version, click here.

Performances:

22 Jul 2021 (video premiere)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor New Music for Orchestra Concert
YouTube; recorded at Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, USA
University Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Neer, conductor

10 Feb 2021 (world premiere/recording session)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor New Music for Orchestra Concert
Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, USA
University Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Neer, conductor