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| After Midnight | |
| Date Completed: | September 24, 1989 |
| Duration: | about 10 minutes |
| Instrumentation: | clarinet, violin and piano |
| First Performance: | October 10, 1989 by David Bell, clarinet, Roger Zahab, violin, and Dan DeLange, piano in Akron, Ohio. A live recording with clarinetist John Culver, pianist Robert Frankenberry and the composer may be found on the performances page. |
| Comments: | in memory of Cary Schroeder |
| Program Notes: | After Midnight was written in September 1989 not long after the death of my friend, Cary Schroeder. The work was written for clarinet (because he played it through his college years), violin (I loved him and being in his company) and piano (representing the restaurant and piano bar in Manhattan that took up so much of his time and energy). I had written a number of pieces for him. He would mischievously comment after hearing one (especially if he found it beautiful, to hide his feelings) that "it starts out fine, but towards the end it gets a little strange." In this work I have tried to write what would have pleased him the most: something with a beautiful, clean surface – but also cool, quiet, and secretly intimate. The first performance was given in Akron, Ohio on October 10, 1989 by David Bell, clarinet, myself at the violin, and Dan DeLange, piano. In the New York premiere at Symphony Space on March 2, 1990 those parts were taken over by Donald Mokrynski, Nancie Lederer and Robert Black. The 2009 edition incorporates all those details and refinements one learns from different partners in many performances – with thanks. RZ |
| PDF Score Excerpt: | After_midnight_sample.pdf (127 kb) |