Postludes Nos. 1-3
Robert Paterson
About this work:
These three postludes for marimba are from a projected cycle of twenty-four. They are intended to end a concert (if played individually) or to be played continuously as a set. Each one may be played as a loop or just once through. They are also meant to be listened to while relaxing (or meditating), when going to sleep or while eating.
Postlude No. 1 was written at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences where I was in residence during the summer of 1991. I stayed in a cabin in the middle of the woods, approximately one mile away from any people. There was a cool, clear, spring-water brook running near my cabin, and a smooth, falling-water creek named Patterson Creek about a half mile away; I would visit these small streams every day. These calm memories, the beautiful mountains (this center is located in the Appalachian Mountains), the beautiful scenery and the generally friendly aura of Georgia I experienced are what influenced me to start writing these Postludes, specifically Postlude No. 1.
Postlude No. 2 was written in Rochester, NY from December 1992 to March 1993. This Postlude evokes some of the hectic feelings one gets when walking downtown in that city. Rochester is sometimes viewed as the "imaging capital of the world." This Postlude pays homage to this dubious Rochesterian honor through it's mechanistic pulse. Postlude No 2 is written to, and inspired bymy wife Victoria.
Postlude No. 3 was started in Waybridge, Vermont and finished in Rochester, NY during the spring of 1993. The piece is notated with a liberal use of "strong accents" (which look a little like mountains rising from nowhere) and long, graceful slurs (which look a little like the rolling hills and mountains of Vermont). The strong accents in the music evoke the feelings of driving down the expressways and thruways in Vermont, turning a corner, and seeing massive, snow-peaked, monolithic mountains of icy rock rising from the earth. Like the Vermont mountains, I wanted the loud accents to seem to appear from nowhere. The flowing background lines (and the slurs) are notationally reminiscent of the long, curvy drives I took with my wife Victoria, to whom Postlude No. 3 is written.
Version: 1990-93
Year composed: 1993
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Marimba
Instrumentation: 1 Marimba
Instrumentation notes: For solo marimba (six-mallets)