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Memento Mei: To the Memory of Nicholas Maw (2012)

Instrumentation: Two flutes (one doubling piccolo, one doubling alto) and piano
Duration: ca. 12'
Commissioned by the Dahlia Flute Duo
Premiere Date: April 17, 2012, Washington, DC

Program Note

Memento Mei: To the Memory of Nicholas Maw is a meditation on music, memory, and mortality, inspired by my time studying with the composer Nicholas Maw. Maw frequently urged students to “write what you hear.” On the day I learned of his death, I did exactly that, resulting in the first Soliloquy of his work. This movement acted as a point of crystallization around which other movements—and poetic texts—grew. The form of Memento Mei is ultimately cyclical, with the fourth movement, Canon, acting as an offset centerpiece around which the musical material reflects and refracts, echoing against itself in the final movements. 

Memento Mei was commissioned by The Dahlia Flute Duo, and was premiered on April 17, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

— Douglas Buchanan

Audio

Memento Mei I - Prelude

 

Memento Mei II - con fuoco

 

Memento Mei III - Soliloquy I

 

Memento Mei IV - Canon

 

Memento Mei V and VI - Soliloquy II and Postlude

 

Score Preview

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