Text

based on the poetry of Kim Addonizio

Orchestration

solo soprano and wind ensemble (3(I,II=picc).1.eh.3.bcl.2–4sax(SATB)—4.3.2.btbn.1.euph—pno.hp—solosop—0.0.0.0.1)

Duration

17 minutes

Commissioned by/Premiere

Darkening, then Brightening was premièred on April 3, 2024 at Krannert Center by the University of Illinois Wind Symphony with Lindsey Kesselman, soprano, and Kevin M. Geraldi, conductor.

Commissioned by a consortium of thirteen university wind ensembles, organized by Michael Haithcock, University of Michigan.

Columbus State University, Jamie L. Nix · Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday · Piedmont Wind Symphony, Mark A. Norman · SUNY Potsdam, Brian K. Doyle · UCLA, Travis J. Cross · University of Colorado Boulder, Donald J. McKinney · University of Illinois, Kevin M. Geraldi · University of Miami Frost, Robert Carnochan · University of Michigan, Michael Haithcock · University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Emily Threinen · UMKC Conservatory, Steven D. Davis · UNC Greensboro, Jonathan Caldwell · University of South Carolina, Cormac Cannon

Score

Score and parts are available for purchase. Email rentals@christophercerrone.com for more information.

Note

Darkening, Then Brightening is my first composition for wind ensemble. When approached about the project, I knew I would be in unfamiliar territory, so I suggested that the work also feature a soprano soloist, a voice type for which I have written regularly. I also suggested the soloist be—in the case of the premiere—Lindsay Kesselman, a long-time collaborator and a dear friend.

It was Lindsay who inspired me to adapt the poems of Kim Addonizio, whose complex, emotionally layered poems of love, loss, and motherhood mirror Lindsay’s own life. Once I suggested the opening poem, “Here,” Lindsay was instrumental in choosing many of the other poems in the cycle. Her unique and indelible personality inspired me to reach outside of my familiar experience and try to empathize with an author’s life that has been quite different from my own.

Darkening, Then Brightening is structured as a five-part arch form where the first and fifth, and second and fourth, movements mirror one another, all surrounding a gentle “night music.” The godfather of this kind of structure is the great Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, though many composers have used it since.

Compositionally, the outer movements seek to invert the traditional hierarchy of the wind ensemble, where percussion often acts as a punctuation to wind and brass instruments. In these gentle, spacious movements, the winds serve as a kind of unearthly sustain on the struck metal instruments of glockenspiel, vibraphone, crotales, and other bells. 

The second and fourth movements reverse the inversion (if you’ll pardon the phrase). The outer movements are all decay, while the inner fast movements are all swell—starting from a single clarinet, each musical surge grows bigger and more intense until the entire ensemble is wailing at top volume—and the soprano sings a high D at the top of her range.

The innermost movement, the eponymous “Darkening, Then Brightening” creates imperfect intonation (out-of-tuneness) for an imperfect world. The solo flute, clarinet, and saxophones play gentle multiphonics (utilizing the “wrong” fingering to get two notes from an instrument that can normally only play one) that can never truly be in tune, against which the rest of the ensemble, along with the soprano, have to navigate. They have to try, much like the protagonist of the songs, to find beauty in a world that cannot be perfected.

Darkening, Then Brightening is dedicated to Lindsay Kesselman, with enormous thanks to Kevin Geraldi for his generous time and efforts to help shape and craft this work, and with further thanks to Michael Haithcock for organizing this commission.