Electric August (2018)

General Information

Movements:
I. August
II. Full of spheres and zones
III. Streaming with hatred in the heat
IV. Exhaustion mutilated to resemble passion
V. Moon of tenderness and magic
VI. Ice cubes fall against her teeth
VII. Here in the electric dusk
VIII. Full of last light

Commissioner: Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Composer Program
Written: June – August, 2018
Duration: ca. 16.5’
Instrumentation: fl + ob + cl + hn + bsn + perc

Performance History

August 5, 2018: Audrey Emata (flute), Cameron Slaton (oboe), Hector Noriega (clarinet), Eden Stargardt (horn), Asha Kline (bassoon), James Adams (percussion) at West Street Theater, Lenox, MA (World Premiere)

Program Note

Electric August was inspired by the 1949 poem ‘Heat’ by Denis Johnson. I came across the work while searching for text for an art song project. On first reading, I was immediately struck by a survivalist image of a group of people trying to escape the blistering heat of the summer, in which emotions are exaggerated to their extremes. While the poem didn’t end up working for the art song project, its image was ingrained in my head; when I began to work on this piece, I realized that it was beginning to reflect itself in my music. I thus shifted to a more head-on approach, where each short movement takes its title from a phrase in the poem and is entirely devoted to capturing the affect created by that phrase. In eight short movements, the piece forms a musical arc, not conveyed in conventional musical motives but rather in the work’s control of time: a shift from a free, uncontrolled pulse to a strict pulse and back again. While each movement contrasts with the next and may seem musically removed from its surroundings, they are all united by the eeriness, pain, wonder, love, and hate wrought by the heat of summer.

Recording available upon request. Please use the contact form linked in the menu above, or email me at ben.beckman@yale.edu.