Come slowly - Eden! for solo cello, string quartet and two percussionists

(2019)

Come slowly – Eden!

Lips unused to Thee –

Bashful – sip thy Jessamines –

As the fainting Bee –

Reaching late his flower,

Round her chamber hums –

Counts his nectars –

Enters – and is lost in Balms.

Why this title? Why this poem? Why Emily Dickinson?

I am not sure I have an answer that will be satisfactory. Knowing me, I will probably revise the reason behind the "why" with the passage of time. One thing I can say for certain is that I adore the work of Dickinson. Each poem imparts so much, so simply, and with such mystery and clarity. These are complicated aphorism of completeness, and yet there is so much room to wonder and ponder and question. This cello concerto is the third (and final) version of my attempt to compose a chamber concert for Michelle. The fully composed, and now discarded first two version are ravishing failures. I am not sure this piece is a failure, but at least I understand where it came from.

The titles for the movements come from portions of text taken from the Dickinson poem:

I - Come slowly - Eden!

II - Reaching late his flower,...

III - and is lost in...

There is joy and near exuberance in the opening line - an urgent request to proceed, but slowly, and gradually revealing the wonder of an ideal. The "eden" of my creative impulses maps very closely to this; It has taken me nearly 5 years to get my act together and write the piece I wanted to write.

The beginning of the second stanza shares the fact that time has past - too much time, or is it just more than was expected? - prior to the bee reaching its goal: the flower.

And to end by becoming lost. To surrender to that which overtakes - a different end altogether.