Safe, This Dangerous Night
Gordon Beeferman
About this work:
SAFE, THIS DANGEROUS NIGHT
Where do you feel safe? And what makes the night so dangerous? Here, perhaps, sleeping with a new lover for the first time, the safety, and the danger, are present, and real.
The first section, circular, almost hypnotic music, the lullaby, the physical sensation, the newness, the tenderness, the day running out, the sound of midnight.
The lover is asleep...
Now, alone and awake, a more neurotic, cerebral kind of music: too many thoughts. Think of the disasters...the disappointments! Lots of noise; lots of anxiety; fear; hyperbole. Where can all this thinking lead...? Nowhere much.
Again, the circular music. A little different this time: maybe more resigned, happily, to the moment. Just the joys, the wonder, of this brief instant, safe, this dangerous night.
I wrote "Safe" between April and July of 2000. Writing for the guitar was a great challenge for me, a pianist. Faced with this smaller, more intimate instrument, I was forced to clarify my musical thoughts. The rewards were great: I was able to write a totally new kind of piece, something I might have never written for the piano. And working with David Leisner is a great pleasure. All composers should have the privilege of working with as understanding and perceptive a performer as he.
Year composed: 2000
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard
Instrumentation: 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)