First Nations storyteller, solo violin, strings and harpsichord
Instrumentation First Nations storyteller; solo violin; strings (11111) or chamber orchestral strings; harpsichord (two-manual)
Timing ca. 40′
Composed 2016
Commissioned by Vetta Chamber Music with assistance from the British Columbia Arts Council and the Deux Mille Foundation
World Premiere April 27, 2016, ArtSpring Island Arts Centre, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Joan Blackman, violin; Rosemary Georgeson, storyteller; Vetta Chamber Music
Recorded by Vetta Chamber Players featuring Rosemary Georgeson (Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene storyteller), Joan Blackman (solo violin), and Renae Morriseau (First Nations musician/drummer) on Seasons of the Sea
Performance note This work is intended to be performed with spoken word by Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene storyteller Rosemary Georgeson
Programme Notes
Anyone who lives next to salt water knows how the sea itself signals the changing seasons each year: the sparkling blue in the high summer sun, the wind-stirred waves in the fall, the turn to dark grey in winter, the calming and warming of the spring. For those whose livelihood depends on the sea, knowing, respecting and honouring these changes and cycles is a part of daily life.
In Crescent Beach, on Canada’s West Coast near Vancouver, there is a circle of memory stones marking the lunar months of the Coast Salish people. Commissioned by Vancouver’s Vetta Chamber Music to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Seasons of the Sea began at this circle, where Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene storyteller Rosemary Georgeson (whose family has lived on this coast for many generations), Canadian composer Jeffrey Ryan (a wide-eyed newcomer), and Vetta Artistic Director and violin soloist Joan Blackman gathered to listen, learn, and share. The essential shape of the piece established together, the creators went their separate ways, coming together again months later with 20 minutes of stories and a 20-minute violin concerto in hand. Storyteller, composer, and soloist then proceeded to take it all apart, recombining and intertwining the elements into a seamless 40-minute words-and-music experience.
Composed for the same forces as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (and sneaking in many musical references to that work) Seasons of the Sea begins at the December solstice—Cold Earth Time, the longest night here—when the sea is dangerous, and people stay close and tell stories. As the year progresses, each solstice and equinox marked by a solo violin cadenza, spring emerges (Rebirth Time), the salmon make their summer return (Hot Earth Time), the autumn fog rolls in and the wind picks up (Earth Cooling Down Time). Finally, another December solstice arrives and a new cycle begins. As a living collaborative work designed to allow space to incorporate stories from the peoples indigenous to the land wherever the work is performed, Seasons of the Sea takes its audience on a journey where words flow into music and music into words, where the past speaks to the present and the present to the past, and where we all look to a better future together.
PDF perusal score
Audio excerpts
Video
Click here to watch the full performance video from Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery, with soloists Rosemary Georgeson and Joan Blackman, and special guest Renae Morriseau, First Nations drummer.
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