Suite from "No Sleep for the Wicked"
Christopher Gainey
About this work:
"No Sleep for the Wicked" is a ballet in seven parts based upon my battles with insomnia. Specifically, it evokes the changes in one’s perception of time and state of mind as the seemingly endless night drags on. I have chosen a line of poetry that reflects the mood of the music as the title for each movement. These four movements serve as a suite that has been excerpted from the ballet to be performed in a concert setting separate from the dance. All four movements may be played, however options for shorter subsets of the suite are contained in the score.
I. “…Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds…”
- Thomas Gray
IV. “…The clocks are striking, calling to each other,
And one can see right to the edge of time…”
- Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Bly
V. “…The silence of that dreamless sleep,
I envy now too much to weep…”
- Lord Byron
VI. “In all its raucous impudence
Life writhes, cavorts in pallid light…”
- Charles Baudelaire, trans. Shapiro
Version: chamber ensemble
Year composed: 2008
Duration: 00:20:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 6-9 players
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Clarinet, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Violin, 1 Cello