You were of that light (2022)
For violin and piano, viola and piano, or cello and piano
Duration: 8 minutes
Commissioned by a consortium organized by Kate Marriott Mitchell
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Program note: This work was written to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passing, at age 21, of Georgia Marriott. Georgia was a dear friend of mine and of many other musicians studying at Indiana University at the time. Of her many wonderful qualities that remain with us all, what stands out in my memory is an ineffable kindness and honesty.
Georgia’s sister Kate organized a consortium commission to involve many friends and family members—to allow for greater participation, versions of this work exist for violin, viola, and cello. The piece is about Georgia, but it is also more generally about the experience of memory and loss, especially as related to the passage of time.
The title comes from a passage from Krishnamurti’s Notebook. In describing a vivid sunset in India in 1961, Krishnamurti wrote: “The ripening rice fields were intense pink and green, a stretch of immediate attention. And the road that crossed the valley was purple and white, so alive that it was one of the rays that raced across the sky. You were of that light, burning, furious, exploding, without shadow, without root and word. And as the sun went further down, every colour became more violent, more intense and you were completely lost, past all recalling. It was an evening that had no memory.”
This work received its premiere, in the version for viola and piano, on September 24, 2022, at Libby Gardner Concert Hall at the University of Utah, with violist Kate Marriott Mitchell and pianist Jeremiah Perry.