Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: Oboe and English Horn Duo Duration: 20 min. Premiere: 3/7/2014 bu Duo Agosto, Charles Huang and Ling-Fei Kang, Women’s Festival of Hartford, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, Conn. Commissioned by: Women’s Festival of Hartford, Daniel Morel, Director Published by: Angelfire Press and distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan for scores, or contact Andrea:
QUOTES
“Clearfield, a full-time composer based in Philadelphia, was the Women Composers Festival of Hartford’s 2014 Composer in Residence, and Daughter of the Sea was the Festival’s inaugural commission. The Festival organizers have long been interested in the possibility of commissioning new works, and we were very excited to see that dream realized in a work that blends haunting lyricism, wit and drama. Written for one of our 2014 Ensembles in Residence, Oboe Duo Agosto, Daughter of the Sea consists of seven movements inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda. Though Clearfield does not set any complete poem, fragments are spoken and sung by the performers. Extended techniques are used for effects both moving and humorous. The players travels throughout the hall during the piece, and the lights are raised strategically to underscore the work’s emotional trajectory. Daughter of the Sea is a theatrical experience whose like is not commonly found, and the Festival is thrilled to have helped bring this new work into the world”.
–Jessica Rudman and Daniel Morel, International Alliance of Women in Music Journal, Spring, 2014
“Inspired by the love sonnets of Pablo Neruda, Daughter of the Sea is a beautiful, touching and charismatic work. Much more than a straightforward duo for oboe and English horn, it incorporates music, poetry and staging, explores different sounds of the instruments, and challenges us as performers — we not only play, but also speak, sing and move. We thoroughly enjoyed the collaboration process and the premiere of this piece at the 2014 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and look forward to sharing the marvelous work with as many diverse audiences as we are able”.
– Oboe Duo Agosto, Ling-Fei Kang and Charles Huang
NOTES
Daughter of the Sea was commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, where Andrea Clearfield was the 2014 featured composer. The piece was composed for Oboe Duo Agosto, who expressed their interest in a work that would incorporate extra musical elements. The Prologue and 6 movements are sonic tableaus inspired by Pablo Neruda’s sensual Love Sonnets. Theatrical suggestions (lighting, spacing and simple movements) are indicated by the composer in the score. Oboe Duo Agosto later performed the work with choreography by Katie Stevinson Nollet.
The piece incorporates spoken and sung fragments, breath sounds, humor and music reflecting Neruda’s dialectic of opposites that may resolve into sleep, rest and dream. “Prologue” is performed from offstage as the lovers call to one another with a feeling of longing. The melodic phrases can also be heard later in the piece. “You are the Daughter of the Sea” (IV) is fluid and undulating like water. In the last movement, one plays to the other, they face away, one leaves the stage. — Andrea Clearfield
WATCH EXCERPTS
The entire work, from a performance at The Banff Centre in Canada with Oboe Duo Agosto, can be viewed here:
Daughter of the Sea
Scored for: Oboe and English Horn Duo
Duration: 20 min.
Premiere: 3/7/2014 bu Duo Agosto, Charles Huang and Ling-Fei Kang, Women’s Festival of Hartford, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, Conn.
Commissioned by: Women’s Festival of Hartford, Daniel Morel, Director
Published by: Angelfire Press and distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan for scores, or contact Andrea:
QUOTES
“Clearfield, a full-time composer based in Philadelphia, was the Women Composers Festival of Hartford’s 2014 Composer in Residence, and Daughter of the Sea was the Festival’s inaugural commission. The Festival organizers have long been interested in the possibility of commissioning new works, and we were very excited to see that dream realized in a work that blends haunting lyricism, wit and drama. Written for one of our 2014 Ensembles in Residence, Oboe Duo Agosto, Daughter of the Sea consists of seven movements inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda. Though Clearfield does not set any complete poem, fragments are spoken and sung by the performers. Extended techniques are used for effects both moving and humorous. The players travels throughout the hall during the piece, and the lights are raised strategically to underscore the work’s emotional trajectory. Daughter of the Sea is a theatrical experience whose like is not commonly found, and the Festival is thrilled to have helped bring this new work into the world”.
–Jessica Rudman and Daniel Morel, International Alliance of Women in Music Journal, Spring, 2014
“Inspired by the love sonnets of Pablo Neruda, Daughter of the Sea is a beautiful, touching and charismatic work. Much more than a straightforward duo for oboe and English horn, it incorporates music, poetry and staging, explores different sounds of the instruments, and challenges us as performers — we not only play, but also speak, sing and move. We thoroughly enjoyed the collaboration process and the premiere of this piece at the 2014 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and look forward to sharing the marvelous work with as many diverse audiences as we are able”.
– Oboe Duo Agosto, Ling-Fei Kang and Charles Huang
NOTES
Daughter of the Sea was commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, where Andrea Clearfield was the 2014 featured composer. The piece was composed for Oboe Duo Agosto, who expressed their interest in a work that would incorporate extra musical elements. The Prologue and 6 movements are sonic tableaus inspired by Pablo Neruda’s sensual Love Sonnets. Theatrical suggestions (lighting, spacing and simple movements) are indicated by the composer in the score. Oboe Duo Agosto later performed the work with choreography by Katie Stevinson Nollet.
The piece incorporates spoken and sung fragments, breath sounds, humor and music reflecting Neruda’s dialectic of opposites that may resolve into sleep, rest and dream. “Prologue” is performed from offstage as the lovers call to one another with a feeling of longing. The melodic phrases can also be heard later in the piece. “You are the Daughter of the Sea” (IV) is fluid and undulating like water. In the last movement, one plays to the other, they face away, one leaves the stage. — Andrea Clearfield
WATCH EXCERPTS
The entire work, from a performance at The Banff Centre in Canada with Oboe Duo Agosto, can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=O91aGNilmdU
Excerpts with choreography can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5So1PIQtJs
MOVEMENTS
Prologue
I. I do not love you
II. Your hands flew from my mouth
III. My ugly love
IV. You are the daughter of the sea
V. I crave
VI. Don’t go far off