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Beanie's Chapbook (2023)
Duration: ca. 10 minutes 2-2-2-2, 4-2-3-0, timp + 1, strings Program Note: Beanie’s Chapbook is a collection of miniature tone-poems, inspired by the long tradition of self-published chapbooks. With a history dating back to the 16th century, chapbooks are short collections of poems, songs, nursery rhymes, religious tracts and other forms of folk and popular literature. While their origins are humble, the tradition persists today as a realm for poets and artists to collect, share, and experiment with ideas. The “poems” in Beanie’s Chapbook are not meant to be the ones I might write, but those that I imagine would be written by my very small, very anxious, very loud cat, Beanie. The first movement, “Beanie and Mirror Cat” depicts Beanie’s nightly romp with the mysterious cat who appears in the bedroom mirror. The second movement, “A Lullaby for Puffies” is Beanie’s song for her collection of small stuffed toys (her “puffies”), which she lovingly cradles and bathes as if they’re her own kittens. The final movement, “Outside Friends with Very Long Ears”, depicts Beanie’s daily staring contest with the rabbits outside our dining room window, and her constant struggle to decide if they’re food, foes, or friends. Premiered by David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony, December 2023 |