Twelve Poems (2004)
for violin and piano
I. Aura
II. Wind Chime
III. Cloudburst
IV. Reflection
V. 2:3
VI. Waves
VII. Hommage
VIII. Entropy
IX. Barcarolle
X. Shoal
XI. Quatrain
XII. Octave
The initial inspiration for my Twelve Poems was Paul Muldoon’s poem “The Briefcase,” in which he reflects, while waiting for a bus, on the possibility of “the first inkling” of this poem (inside his briefcase) being swept from his side on a city street in Manhattan by the rushing water of a sudden cloudburst: “I knew I daren’t/set the briefcase down/ to slap my pocket for an obol—/for fear it might slink into a culvert and strike out along the East River/ for the sea. By which I mean the ‘open’ sea.”
In writing these short movements, I was seeking an analogue for the ability of the poet to capture a particular moment and, further, an idea—more or less abstract— about the materials of the art and its forms. As with poetry, the focus is on sound as much as structure: “Cloudburst” is after Muldoon’s wonderful poem; both contemplation and the physical image of a mirror are implied in “Reflection,” which is a palindrome. The harmonic relationship of the perfect fifth in the overtone series is 2:3, a relationship that can also be expressed rhythmically. “Hommage” is my miniature tribute to Debussy, the composer who has most influenced my conception of musical form. His last work, the sonata for violin and piano, is, for me, music that approaches perfection, and a suggestion of the piece appears in this movement.
The preferred, although perhaps less known definition of “shoal” refers to a school of fish. This word always reminds me of my favorite lines from Edouard Roditi’s translation of Alain Bosquet’s poem “Regrets”: “Luxury, impulse! I draft a phrase/ and believe it protects me from this icy world,/ that goes through my body like a shoal of sardines.” Quatrain and octave, poetic terms for the number of lines in a stanza or poem, relate to the number of phrases (four and eight respectively) in these movements. In addition, the harmonic interval of the octave is ubiquitous in the concluding movement.
Twelve Poems was written for James Stern and Audrey Andrist, to whom the work is affectionately dedicated.
—Robert Gibson
duration: ca. 15:00