2016

blood moon

for clarinet in Bb + piano + violin + cello

Commissioned by the Phoenix Quartet for their "Time Deconstructed" project

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Duration: ca. 4'00"

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Premiere: January 31, 2016 | New York City, NY | Phoenix Quartet

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Program Notes

Blood Moon is a work composed in 2015 as part of the Phoenix Quartet’s Messiaen+ Project. The work is based off of, and, in many ways, deconstructs Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Much of the harmonic material throughout Blood Moon is taken directly from Quartet for the End of Time and the overall form of the work is proportional to non-retrogradable rhythms found throughout Messiaen’s piece.

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The title references the astronomical “blood moon,” an event that occurs during a lunar eclipse and is named for the copper hue that the moon takes on. It also references the Biblical significance of a blood moon, which is interpreted as a signal for the end times. In this way, Blood Moon metaphorically nods to Messiaen’s Quartet while also borrowing musical material from the piece.