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Illegible Streets
Date Completed:June 23, 1994
Duration:about 12 and a half minutes
Instrumentation:violin, cello, piano and percussion
First Performance:Robert Frankenberry - piano, David Russell - cello, Roger Zahab-violin, and Dale Speicher on July 14, 1994 in St. Peter's Church, Chelsea, New York City
Comments:for Robert Frankenberry, David Russell and Dale Speicher
Program Notes:Illegible Streets - the treachery of memory . During a visit to New York I remarked to a friend that nearly every corner held a vivid memory. Later, on a walk, I began to notice that certain landmarks were missing - on turning a corner, expecting a favorite shop or view, my memory would collide with a replacement or obstruction. These superimposed visions become treacherous to navigate when one's friends are involved - either in person ("See Roger, I knew that book store was long gone. These condos have been up for years.") or in spirit (at the South Pond in Central Park I still see Tim waiting to meet me for lunch). This work was written for a concert I played in New York with Robert Frankenberry, David Russell (the cellist) and Dale Speicher on July 14, 1994 in St. Peter's Church, Chelsea. The idea of undermined expectation is transferred to musical materials and includes a resetting of music originally composed in 1980 for a setting of Whitman's Paumanok, which is itself both a retro- and intro-spective poem.